Matthew Macklin Sees Asikainen Fight As Door To World Title

[slapbangwhallop]

Couldnt find a thread for this fight.

anyone going? how do you see it going?

If Matt comes out of the traps as quick as he did last time I think he might run out of steam down the straight because Amin is no mug.

I'll go for a Macklin points win and he can bring the belt back to Ireland to show it off before the Dunne fight!

[Deno1986]

Its going to be a tough night for Macklin. Would agree that he needs to pace himself over the fight to avoid being gased in the so called 'championship' rounds. Asikainen should have two victories against Seb Sylvester under his belt but got careless in their second bout and got knocked out, bit of a suspect chin!

I think Mack will win the fight on a close UD or maybe even a SD. Hope he does the job though.

[15829]

am going to this cant wait should be a good atmosphere thinking macklin on points gonna be a hard fight this is just as hard as the barker fight

[Adamj1987]

amin to retain

[steve689]

I feel Asikainen may be past his best and the time is ripe for Macklin to take this title. With regards to the second Sylvester fight, it was not so much a case of a suspect chin as a blatant unpunished rabbit punch from the German that just knocked the wind out of Amin.

After that incident he was not the same fighter and was dismantled and stopped. I think Macklin may grind him down late on and win via stoppage around the 10th or 11th but needs to watch out early on.

[liamlion]

Damn Friday nite boxing... my mates from Brum have a spare ticket for me but there is no way i can make it up to Manchester from Bournemouth straight from work... im sour :x

Good luck Macklin... i'll have to SkyPlus it instead

[REAL_DEAL]

Damn Friday nite boxing... my mates from Brum have a spare ticket for me but there is no way i can make it up to Manchester from Bournemouth straight from work... im sour :x

Good luck Macklin... i'll have to SkyPlus it instead

what time do you finish?

[Londonirish]

Damn Friday nite boxing... my mates from Brum have a spare ticket for me but there is no way i can make it up to Manchester from Bournemouth straight from work... im sour :x

Good luck Macklin... i'll have to SkyPlus it instead

what time do you finish?

You could give a lift

[REAL_DEAL]

I will give you a lift to Japan so you can spar with Hozumi Hasegawa if you want. Domo arigato

[Londonirish]

I will give you a lift to Japan so you can spar with Hozumi Hasegawa if you want. Domo arigato

Il give that one a miss Thanks

[The Law]

I should be in attendance. I expect a Macklin stoppage win.

..... fingers crossed!

[crusader]

I think Macklin will win by late stoppage. I believe Asikainen is on the slide. He has taken a large amount of punishment in his career and was badly stopped by a non puncher in Gevor recently. I think Macklin will become more dominant as the bout goes on and stop him around the tenth.

[Hagler2002]

The odds are all wrong for this, Asikainen is never a 100/30 shot. I'm not saying he is going to win but the value certainly lies in backing him in a close fight.

[slapbangwhallop]

The odds are all wrong for this, Asikainen is never a 100/30 shot. I'm not saying he is going to win but the value certainly lies in backing him in a close fight.

I agree, and I think that he might have been bigger at one stage. Funny thing is that I thik the "non-Irish" opposition in the three fights I am most interested in at the moment (Dunne-Poonsawat, Macklin-Askiainen and Rogan-Sexton) are all underpriced and good values for the win. DOnt get me wrong I hope none of them win but I think I will be having a small wager on them all - possibly all to win by KO.

[black panther]

The odds are all wrong for this, Asikainen is never a 100/30 shot. I'm not saying he is going to win but the value certainly lies in backing him in a close fight.

I felt the same when I saw the odds, no way Macklin should be such a huge favourite. That said, I fancy Macklin to stop Amin.

[Spud]

Really good fight for Macklin and also Hatton promotions!!!

If Macklin wins which I feel he will - then it will be tremendous not just for Macklin but will give Hatton Promotions an even bigger push!!!

[alexpaterson]

Its going to be a tough fight for Macklin I think he'll win it though Asikainen is a good fighter but I think Macklin will take a close decision and hopefully fight Barker for the Euro

[Wake up call]

By Andrew Wake: Birmingham’s Matthew Macklin is hoping that victory over Finnish puncher Amin Asikainen on Friday night (September 25) will put him in line for a world title shot.

Macklin knows that he faces his toughest test to date when he collides with the Nordic puncher for the vacant European middleweight crown on Ricky Hatton’s first Sky televised promotion, but feels he belongs at world level and this the right fight to prove it.

“I think a good win here will put me in the top three of four middleweights in the world,” said Macklin, 24 – 2 (17 KOs). “First of all I just want to win and get the title, but if I can do it in good style I think that will be a major statement.

“I don’t care how the win comes. I think they’ll be times when I have to stand and fight and they’ll be times when I have to get behind the jab and move. Either way I’m ready for whatever he brings and I think he does tire in the later rounds and I’m in great shape so if I can set a fast pace, I think I can stop him late on.”

Macklin switched to Joe Gallagher’s gym in Denton, Manchester at the beginning of the year. The move culminated in Macklin’s best career performance, a third round stoppage of former IBF world title challenger Wayne Elcock for the British crown, and Gallagher believes that the 27-year-old is ready to step up his level even further.

Gallagher said: “The world stage is definitely Matthew Macklin’s oyster and I feel in beating Elcock he’s proved he can beat a top 10 middleweight. Now he’s got his second world ranked top 10 middleweight in Asikainen who is number six in the current Ring magazine and he’s only lost to [Khoren] Gevor and [Sebastian] Sylvester.

“He had Gevor down twice in that fight and he’s beat Sylvester before, knocking him out so if Matthew does come through against Asakainen, although it’s no give me, I see him right bang in there and he’ll take Sylvester as his next fight no problem.”

Like all trainers do, Gallagher has taken time to study his charge’s opponent, but with Asikainen he has found a new more unorthodox way of doing so.

“We’ve got about eight of Asakainen’s fights [on dvd] and we’ve gone through them all, but I’ve even took time out to fight him on the XBOX,” Gallagher revealed. “He’s on the Fight Night 4 game so we just had to look to see what sort of fighter they had him as. You know if they had Ricky Hatton, they’d have him as a body puncher so we had a look to see what EA Sports had built Asakainen like and he’s a sort of tough cookie!”

Until this European title tilt came available, all the talk in the trade was about a major domestic clash with Commonwealth champion Darren Barker. Some people have accused Macklin of using this fight as an opportunity to dodge the undefeated Barnet man. Macklin, however, is keen to state that this fight is better for his career.

He said: “No disrespect to Darren Barker but he’s boxed journeymen and the only real live opponent he’s boxed was Darren McDermott, he’s said that himself. With all due respect to McDermott, he went life and death with Steve Bendall, who is shot and basically a Midlands area or English title standard.

“I see myself mixing it with the very best in the division. In six or seven month, or when the opportunity occurs, I see myself getting in there with [Kelly] Pavlik.

“In terms of chasing honours and title and world rankings, fighting Barker would have been a backwards step whereas in fighting Asikainen, who is proven at European level and is just short of world championship level, I can make a major statement in this fight.

“If I beat Darren Barker everyone in England would have gone ‘That was a good fight, Macklin won.’ But people on the world scene would have gone ‘Darren who?’

“When I beat Asikainen people will realise that he knocked out Sylvester [who is now a world champion] and lost in a war with him the other time and is ranked number six by Ring magazine.”

Despite feeling that he is a league above Barker at this stage in the respective careers, Macklin does not rule out the possibility of the clash happening if other opportunities don’t present themselves – but there is also another name on his radar.

“Once I win this European title my next goal is to fight for a world title. That might not happen in the very next fight. It might be a case of me having to defend the European title a few times and if that’s the case then fine. Then the fights like Darren Barker would be appealing. A fight with Andy Lee in Ireland would be appealing.

“The fight with Lee would be good because we both have good profiles in Ireland and we’ve both headlined on RTE. I have actually have a better profile over there than I have here. When I box over there I get full pages in the nationals.”


http://www.secondsout.com/columns/andre ... orld-title

[Deno1986]

Really good fight for Macklin and also Hatton promotions!!!

If Macklin wins which I feel he will - then it will be tremendous not just for Macklin but will give Hatton Promotions an even bigger push!!!

if he does win will it be a big enough push for Hatton to retire and concentrate solely on promoting?

[stujones]

I feel Asikainen may be past his best and the time is ripe for Macklin to take this title. With regards to the second Sylvester fight, it was not so much a case of a suspect chin as a blatant unpunished rabbit punch from the German that just knocked the wind out of Amin.

After that incident he was not the same fighter and was dismantled and stopped. I think Macklin may grind him down late on and win via stoppage around the 10th or 11th but needs to watch out early on.

Kind of my take, I really am a big fan of both fighters (and tipped both to win versions of the world title in their early career).... Tough to call, but I think maybe Macklin will have that extra desire now. I don't even know who I am rooting for.

[lacollier883]

This is a real tough fight for Macklin, even Joe Gallagher only see's it as a 50/50 fight.

Saying that after speaking to Macklin today he is feeling confident but knows it is a big task ahead, he feels this is the best training camp he has had, and feels it is his time for the Title.

Good luck to Matthew

[liamlion]

Damn Friday nite boxing... my mates from Brum have a spare ticket for me but there is no way i can make it up to Manchester from Bournemouth straight from work... im sour :x

Good luck Macklin... i'll have to SkyPlus it instead

what time do you finish?

5pm pal

[Rixxy]

he said at the bunce show last night that a win would put him in the top two in the ring magazine and so a world title shot will happen. Shame the barker fight didnt happen, but there is still time. I thought barker would have won

[Wales]

Well, whoever writes the ring rating should be taken to task then because a win for matt, as much as I like the lad, does not put him #2 in the world.

[lacollier883]

http://fightfranchise.com/macklin_asika ... esser.html

Both fighters seemed confident and were very repectful to each other.

They both believe the fight could go either way