The Hilton family (Matthew Hilton, Dave Hilton Jr., Alex Hilton) is a pretty notorious (at least in Montreal) boxing family that actually managed to win a few titles back in the day. How good were they?
Dave Hilton sexually assaulted his daughters when they were under age 14 and went to prison for it. The man is trash.
I remember at one stage a lot of experts and media were quite sold on Matthew. He was quite hyped for a time. He fell miles short of course and a critical look at his resume finds it quite lacking.
Matthew looked really good in the Drayton fight to win the 154 lb. title. Drayton was a very cagey and good fighter, despite his record. It seemed Matthew got lax in training afterwards, along with other out of the ring troubles. Davey was looking really good early on but got in a lot of trouble. He had long periods of inactivity due to trouble with the law. He missed two and a half years from 85-88 just when he was reaching his peak. He fought sporadically until 1993, his best win being a decison over future 168 lb. champion Steve Little in 1989. I thought he looked quite good in that fight. Another period of inactivity followed between 93 and 96. He was clearly past his best but somehow managed to gain the WBC 168 title. Granted his opponent Dingaan Thobela was blown up former 135 lb. champion and also past his best. Then he ddin't even get to defend the title due to more legal trouble, I think Davey could have gone farther than Matthew if not for the early out of the ring trouble but then again he was fighting at 147 lbs which was a tougher division than 154 at the time. He would have had to have faced Curry, McCrory, Honeyghan or Starling to get a world title at that juncture.
Matthew could punch and nearly decapitated Wilfred Benitez. Lots of outside the ring troubles with the family.
Matthew Hilton was a good fighter, brilliant body puncher. Powerful puncher, especially left hook, good stamina who feasted on former champions Vito Antuofermo and Wilfredo Benitez. Had a hell of a fight with Buster Drayton (Ring´s fight of the year) to win on points. Neither was the same though Hilton struggled with weight, his loss to brave but limited Robert Hines was embarrasing. Was an average middleweight who was outboxed by Doug DeWitt for WBO which sums up how badly he had slipped. Davy Hilton is a scumbag. I believe his ex-wife was Gatti´s sister or cousin. Gatti brothers hated him.
Yes I agree. I think he was one of those fighters that simply lost focus, allowed outside the ring distractions get to him. Had a lot of power, was agressive and hit to the body. Another one of those that might have been better had he been more disciplined. I always thought him vs. Ayala would have been a barnburner while it lasted. I heard about Davey. Pretty disturbing if true.
I remember reading about it at the time. Hard to believe how the time has passed. Those girls would now be in their 40s. Wonder if they have any relationship with him. Hard to think they would.
