Campbell Hatton Ready To Display Wholesale Changes In Rematch With Jimmy Joe Flint
Campbell Hatton says he’s ready to show the world all the changes he’s made as a fighter when he takes on Jimmy Joe Flint in their rematch next weekend.
Hatton (14-1-0 5 KO) suffered the first defeat of his career to Flint in March when challenging for the British Central Area super-lightweight title in Sheffield, England. It was a tough and entertaining fight that left Hatton acutely aware that he needed to make radical changes if he wanted to take the next steps in a career that has unfairly – but inevitably – drawn comparisons to his legendary father Ricky.
After spending his whole life training under his uncle Matthew, a former world title challenger, Hatton decided to move from Manchester in the north of England to Essex in the south to train at Ben Davison’s Performance Centre.
It was not only a change of scenery but an entirely new way of working as Hatton went from his uncle’s only fighter to joining a gym boasting world champions and several top-level boxers. He also saw it as an opportunity to completely remodel himself as a fighter.
“My whole life’s changed. I’m away from my friends and my family and my daughter and I’m turning into a bit of a cockney now, really,” Hatton told BoxingScene ahead of next Saturday’s rematch in Manchester. “You look at the people that are in the gym, and you can’t not improve. The list of champions, up and coming fighters, it’s endless. You look at what Ben and Barry [Smith] have done, and you’ve got Lee Wiley in there and it’s the best of the best, so every day I’m like a sponge.
“I think it is a gym where it does take a bit of time but, even though I haven’t been boxing, it’s been a long time. I’ve been going down there about six or seven months now so I’m well and truly settled in and that’s why we feel ready to go straight in for the rematch as well. I’ve taken to it really well and I’ve been improving really quickly.”
It’s an encouraging sign that Hatton opted to humble himself and learn from the defeat instead of choosing the easier path of leveraging his family name to secure well-paid fights without really growing or improving.
He admits watching back the first fight left him feeling frustrated because there was little he could with his previous skillset to change the outcome of the bout. Now, though, after seven months working with Davison and his team, Hatton is confident the rematch will go his way.
“Fundamentals and fighting to instruction,” he said when asked on what he has improved. “I’ve always had a bit of a habit of when I got in there, just ended up doing what feels right at the time instead of going in with a plan and setting things up. In that gym, we do a lot of video analysis and we know everything that we plan on doing.
“It was my first title fight and it’s easy to get carried away with it all. When you’re in a fight like that, it’s easy to just fight with your heart and not your head but we’re going in there now with specific things we think are going to work.
“Not just that, we’ve looked to improve in all areas as a fighter – not just preparing for this fight – just for my career in general. It was a close fight last time, and I think this time, with the improvements I’ve made, I can get the job done in style.”
