Matthew Hilton: Unfulfilled Talent

[BoztheMadman]

The story of Matthew Hilton is like taken from some Hollywood movie. The boy who rose from humble background to become the world boxing champion, then squandered his title away due to drinking and ultimately ended up as a welfare case. It is more a film-noir than a Rocky-movie. Although one can argue the same happened to Rocky himself, eventually. One cannot tell Matthew Hilton's story without also mentioning his family, the famous and infamous Fighting Hiltons. He and his two brothers, Dave and Alex, all had their shots at glory but only Matthew made it for real, even though Dave briefly captured a world title, at the twilight of his career. Matthew was arguably the most talented and the most successful one, even though his success would also be short-lived.This is the story of one of the greatest unfulfilled and wasted talents of the junior middleweight division.

 

He was born as the third son of the Anglophone-Quebec family which were led by patriarch and former prizefighter Dave Hilton sr, on 27 December 1965 in Montreal. His father had captured the Canadian featherweight and light middleweight titles, but never got farther than that, perhaps because of his drinking habit. The young Matthew would inherit this vice and it was this drinking gene that would ruin his career. They were a poor family of 5 brothers who all slept in the same bed in a trailer. Their father was very adamant about his boys becoming professional boxers, so he started training them in the art from early age. They never even went to school, because in Dave sr's eyes, it wouldn't give them enough time to develop into boxers. Of the 5 brothers, only the youngest, Jimmy, would never turn professional. Second youngest Stewart had turned professional as a lightweight but got killed in an auto accident soon thereafter, after competing in only 4 bouts. The family lived a nomadic lifestyle and when Matthew started boxing professionally in 1983, they moved from one place to another. Though he had some boxing skills, Matthew preferred to come forward and slug it out. He had fast feet, strong build and a good punch. Since his mother was of Scottish origin, Matthew often wore trunks with his mother's family tartan on them. As mentioned, Matthew turned pro in early 1983 and won his first 16 fights in Canada, 12 by stoppage. As the level of competition was limited there, his father looked to get him signed with a major promoter in USA and got his wish when Don King himself saw the young slugger's potential and signed him. His other two brothers were also signed, but only Matthew would profit from his deal.

 

In his first fight on American soil, on 29 April 1985, he beat unheralded Roberto Hernandez by TKO 9, at the Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo. He won one more minor fight before returning home to Montreal to fight the former undisputed middleweight world champion Vito Antuofermo. Forum was sold out and would be always when the Hilton brothers fought, as they had gained immense popularity in their hometown. In an impressive display, Matthew gave Antuofermo a beating which led to his retirement after the 4th round, to the joy of the crowd. It was his first step towards his world title dream. In his next fight, he would defeat an even bigger name, Wilfred Benitez. Benitez was knocked out in the 9th round by Hilton, this time at the Paul Sauve Arena, also in Montreal. Hilton continued tearing through his opponents until he was given that big fight against IBF light middleweight champion Buster Drayton. On 27 June 1987 at the Forum, the 21-yearold Hilton realised his family's long-lasting dream of getting a world champion. They had had a long boxing history, the Hilton's, but this was the first time a Hilton was fighting for a world title. The much younger and faster Hilton outworked and outpunched the older and slower but game Drayton and put him down once with a big right in the first round, before he took home the 15-round verdict and of course the title. It was a very impressive performance and it looked like a new star was on the horizon, a potential next great.

 

However, after achieving his dream, Matthew started living the wild life, becoming less enthusiastic about training and his drinking habit escalated. Though his father had been able to drink while at the same time having a viable career, he was never at this level of the game and Matthew couldn't afford it. It affected his stamina. In his first defense of the title, he easily outclassed the 23-0 Jack Callahan and stopped him in the 2nd round, on 16th October. The fight was stopped after Callahan suffered two knockdowns and was all busted up, by the referee at the end of the round. Next year, he had a fight at 163 pounds against Paul Whittaker and stopped Whittaker in the 4th round by TKO. He then reached a deal with Don King where he would receive one million for his next fight and then his purse would increase with another million with each new fight. But that didn't happen, because in his second defense he lost the title to Robert Hines, a slickster from Philadelphia. Early on, Hilton was the better man and put Hines down in round 2 and 3, but he had suffered a rib injury prior to the fight and couldn't throw his left hand, which enabled Hines to come back. Hilton was also not in top shape, because of excessful drinking. Hines outboxed him for most of the rest of the fight and took his belt with a mostly close but unanimous decision. He then decided to move up to middleweight and in his first fight there stopped journeyman Tim Williams by TKO 10. However, in his next fight he again looked in bad shape and had to struggle to a draw with Fermin Chirino, a fringe contender. Nevertheless, he received another world title shot from WBO champion Doug "Cobra" DeWitt, who was another brawler and toughman. Fight was held on 15 January 1990 at the Convention Center in Atlantic City. It was a bruising fight where Matthew tried to redeem his recent poor efforts with a spirited effort, but in the end the naturally bigger DeWitt managed to close his right eye and Dave senior had seen enough, telling the referee to stop the fight following the 11th round. The scorecards were 105-103 twice and 105-102 for the champion.

 

His career had now hit a dead end and Hilton would fight the rest of his career in Canada, on low-level cards. He lost his last fight against Darrell Flint, which was at super middleweight, by UD10. It was 1993 and the now-27 yearold Matthew was finished with boxing. He left behind a record of 32(24)-3-2. A sad epilogue to such a promising start. After the DeWitt fight, he had retina problems and received several surgeries, but they were unsuccessful and he is now practically blind in one eye. His family's troubles also affected him and in a 2002 documentary, he was shown living in rather poor conditions. He told the journalist "I hope I will find something else to do that I am good at." He has also had brushes with the law and together with his brother Dave, he served time for robbing a donut shop, of all things. Their oldest brother Dave jr aka Davey served time for sexually abusing his two daughters. Alex has been jailed more than once and is considered the most vile of the brothers, while Jimmy is the one that is least in the spotlight and was only involved in an altercation with three men, together with Matthew, in front of a bar in 1993. Matthew still lives in Montreal today and his whereabouts are unknown. His story is a cautionary tale to all young boxers, but unfortunately a very common one as well. However, for all their troubles, Matthew and his brothers have put Montreal on the boxing map and that contribution is their most pivotal one. Today Montreal is a hotbed of Canadian boxing. And everybody has their own stories to tell about the Fighting Hiltons.

Edited June 1, 2016 by BoztheMadman