This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Matthew Hilton | |
---|---|
Born | Montreal, Quebec, Canada | December 17, 1965
Nationality | Canadian |
Statistics | |
Weight(s) | Light Middleweight Middleweight |
Height | 171 cm (5 ft 7 in) |
Stance | Orthodox |
Boxing record | |
Total fights | 37 |
Wins | 32 |
Wins by KO | 24 |
Losses | 3 |
Draws | 2 |
Matthew Hilton (born December 27, 1965) is a Canadian former boxer [1] who was the IBF Junior Middleweight Champion of the World. He is the younger brother of former super middleweight world champion, Dave Hilton Jr.
He started boxing professionally in early 1983, and while doing so lived (along with his father/trainer and other family members) a nomadic lifestyle, moving from place to place in a 'movable trailer.'
It was tough growing up for Hilton, but he transferred that toughness to the ring, at least as his career started. Though Matthew had decent boxing skills for a brawler, he preferred to press forward, back up his opponents, and detonate his punishing left hooks, and powerful overhand rights. Two of the big names he faced in his rise to stardom were former 3-time world champion Wilfred Benítez and former world middleweight champion Vito Antuofermo, who both fell victim to his devastating KO power. He won the IBF junior middleweight title, and brought Canada its first world boxing title since the 1940s, with a 15-round unanimous decision over defender Buster Drayton [1] on ABC in Montreal, June 27, 1987, which was also named KO Magazines TV Fight of the Year for 1987. He made one defense on the Tyson-Biggs undercard on HBO in October of that year, busting and bruising up a totally outclassed Jack Callahan before the referee called things off after two rounds. His next fight was an exciting non-title bout on ESPN in the middleweight division against Paul Whitaker of New Orleans, who was knocked down and brutally battered by Hilton before being KO'd in the fourth round. Matthew then apparently had the upper hand in the early going in his next defense - a November 1988 matchup with Robert Hines on Showtime.
After knocking a bloodied Hines down twice, he let Hines back in the fight, and Hines steadily hammered a very tired and not very well prepared Hilton in winning a come-from-behind 12-round unanimous decision, after which Hilton would be champ no more. Hilton admitted after the fight that he had sustained rib injury during training for that fight (Between rounds, Hilton could be heard telling his father that he couldn't throw his left hand). Matthew later rebounded with a lackluster (though controversial) draw against Fermin Chirino, a bout in which many felt that Matthew had won by a 10-round unanimous decision, followed by two more exciting bouts against journeyman Tim T. Williams (on ESPN), who was KO'd in round 10, and Tennessee toughman Knox Brown, who had only previously been down at the hands of John Mugabi, and was again floored by Hilton in a 10-round decision victory on the USA Network. His last crack at a title was on the Foreman–Cooney undercard in January 1990, when his eyes were again swollen shut by the punches of defending WBO middleweight titlist Doug DeWitt.
This time, though he fought gamely, Hilton was the loser not by decision but rather by 11th-round TKO when his father had seen enough and did not let him fight the last round. Hilton's eyes were both swollen completely closed. His cutman only had ice to decrease the swelling, which was ineffective. Because of that fight, he suffered a retina injury which followed him for his next few fights before forcing him into retirement. Hilton received many unsuccessful surgeries for his eyes. His career began to sputter during the 1990s, and, partly due to the various troubles plaguing the Hilton family, Hilton never was really able to regain his championship-level caliber. He said he's never been as much motivated for training after he won the IBF's belt against Buster Drayton.
James Nathaniel Toney is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2017. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF and lineal middleweight titles from 1991 to 1993, the IBF super middleweight title from 1993 to 1994, and the IBF cruiserweight title in 2003. Toney also challenged twice for a world heavyweight title in 2005 and 2006, and was victorious the first time but was later stripped due to a failed drug test. Overall, he competed in fifteen world title fights across four weight classes.
Terry Wayne Norris is an American former boxer, prizefighter and a three time world champion in the light-middleweight (super-welterweight) division. Originally from Lubbock, Texas, he fought out of San Diego.
Antonio Deon Tarver is an American former professional boxer and boxing commentator. In boxing he competed from 1997 to 2015, and held multiple light heavyweight world championships, including the WBA (Unified), WBC, IBF and Ring magazine titles, as well as the IBO light heavyweight and cruiserweight titles.
Jermain Taylor is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He remains the most recent undisputed middleweight champion, having won the WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring middleweight titles in 2005 by beating Bernard Hopkins, and in doing so ending Hopkins' ten-year reign as middleweight champion. This made Taylor the first, and to date, only male boxer in history to claim each title from all four major boxing sanctioning organizations in a single fight. He once again defeated Hopkins six months later, making him the only fighter to have defeated Hopkins twice. He retired as a world champion in the months that followed his capture of the IBF middleweight title for a second time, after making a substantial recovery from a brain injury sustained earlier in his career.
Carlos Santos is a former boxer from Puerto Rico, who represented his native country as an amateur at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. There he was eliminated in the quarterfinals. Santos was involved both in the first and the fourth world title bouts involving two Puerto Rican boxers in history. It has been suggested that Santos was not born in Ceiba but in the San Juan area named "Santurce", but it is widely believed that Santos is a Ceiba native.
Lucian Bute is a Romanian-Canadian former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2017. He held the IBF super-middleweight title from 2007 to 2012, successfully making nine consecutive defenses and reaching a peak ranking of number one in the division by The Ring magazine.
As in the 1980s, the 1990s in boxing's popularity focused on all divisions. When 1980s legends Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, as well as others retired, newer superstars filled the void: Pernell Whitaker, Julio César Chávez, in the early 1990s, Oscar De La Hoya, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr. and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the mid to late 1990s.
Cornelius Bundrage is an American professional boxer. He is a two-time former world champion, having held the IBF junior middleweight title twice between 2010 and 2015. In 2006 he was a contestant on season two of the Contender reality TV show, where he reached the semi-finals.
Sakio Bika is a Cameroonian-born Australian professional boxer. He held the WBC super-middleweight title from 2013 to 2014, and previously the IBO super-middleweight title from 2008 to 2010. In 2015 he challenged once for the unified light-heavyweight world title, and in 2007 won the third season of The Contender reality TV series.
Joachim Alcine is a Haitian-Canadian professional boxer fighting out of Montreal, Quebec, where he now resides. He is a former WBA light middleweight champion.
Matthew James "Matty" Hatton is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2013. He held the European welterweight title from 2010 to 2011, and challenged once for the WBC light-middleweight title in the latter year. He is the younger brother of former two-division world champion of boxing, Ricky Hatton, and fought on the undercard of many of Ricky's high-profile fights.
Daniel Geale is an Australian former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2016. He held the unified WBA (Super) and IBF middleweight titles between 2011 and 2013, and the IBO middleweight title from 2007 to 2009. As an amateur boxer, Geale won a welterweight gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Moses Buster Drayton was an American boxer who won the IBF world title at light middleweight (154lb). Drayton turned pro in 1978 and won the vacant IBF light middleweight title with a decision win over Carlos Santos in 1986. He defended the belt twice before losing it to Matthew Hilton the following year. In 1988 he took on WBA light middleweight titleholder Julian Jackson, but was defeated via TKO in the third round. He retired in 1995 at the age of 43.
Félix Trinidad vs. Bernard Hopkins, billed as And Then There Was One, was a boxing match that took place on September 29, 2001, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, between WBC and IBF middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins and WBA middleweight champion Félix Trinidad to unify all three titles and decide the first undisputed middleweight champion since Marvin Hagler. The winner would also become The Ring middleweight champion. The undercard featured championship fights in three other weight classes.
Delvin Antonio Rodríguez is a Dominican professional boxer who has challenged three times for a world title.
Carson Jones is an American professional boxer at welterweight and the former USBA welterweight champion. He is also the former NABA light-middle weight champion, the former WBC Continental Americas light-middle weight champion, and the former NABA USA light middleweight champion. He achieved his highest ranking in May 2012, when he was placed as the #4 rated welterweight in the world by the IBF.
The 2017–18 World Boxing Super Series – cruiserweight division was a World Boxing Super Series professional boxing tournament that took place between September 2017 and July 2018 in several countries. The Super Series featured eight top-rated cruiserweight boxers in a single-elimination tournament. Its winner will hold world titles for all four of boxing's major sanctioning bodies, The Ring Magazine title, as well as the Muhammad Ali trophy. The tournament was organized by Comosa AG. A super middleweight tournament was held concurrently, with prize money for both competitions totalling US$50 million.
Caleb Hunter Plant is an American professional boxer who held the IBF super middleweight title from 2019 to 2021.
The heavyweight unification series, also known as the Heavyweight World Series, was a sequence of professional boxing matches held in 1986 and 1987 to crown an undisputed champion of the heavyweight class. The series was produced by HBO Sports and promoted by Don King. It ended with Mike Tyson as undisputed champion, holding the championship belts of the International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Association (WBA), and World Boxing Council (WBC).