Hatton set to return

Matthew Hatton will return to the ring next month for the first time since his unsuccessful world-title challenge.

Matthew set to take on unbeaten Belarusian at welterweight

Matthew Hatton will return to the ring next month for the first time since his unsuccessful world-title challenge. Having lost his WBC light-middleweight showdown with Saul Alvarez in March, Hatton drops down to welterweight to face the unbeaten Andrei Abramenka of Belarus. The fight, for the vacant IBF intercontinental belt, will take place at Blackpool's Tower Circus on August 19 and Hatton hopes a victory will propel him back into the world-title picture. A former European champion at welter, Hatton said: "Abramenka is a good calibre opponent and facing him proves I am going straight back in against a meaningful opponent. "I am mandatory contender for my old European title and I would love a crack at WBA title holder Vyacheslav Senchenko or interim champion Ismael El Massoudi. "It is one of those three fights I am looking at by the end of the year."