Macklin not looking too shabby at all

[Roars Like Me]

To me Sturm is at the european level, hence the struggles he's had recently. Regarding Martinez v Barker, I genuinly believe he found it hard to get motivated for this fight. That's why 'if' he is for the Macklin fight then it shouldn't be a problem. That's the major differnece in my opinion.

[whiteboy]

anyone else out in NY for the fight? landed yesterday 8)

[Autobarn]

I think he's going to beat Sturm.

Really? S'a pity he's fighting Martinez, then.

I think that Brit middleweights recent run of form fighting Felix is going to be shown up here for what it is: decent Euro-level lads fighting a decent Euro-level champ who's slipping, & still not really getting the better of him. Sturm's not really elite for me, Martinez is elite & we're going to see the difference here.

Sturm's never been a hitter in any way shape or form (unless your name's Ronald Hearns) but he was clearly the bigger one-shot merchant all night vs Macklin, & displayed a better chin. I saw Sturm ganked by Javier Castillejo, the former light-middle, but Macklin hit him with everything but the kitchen sink & never budged him. Murray's performance against Sturm puts into perspective just how well the Bosno-German has been matched throughout his career, imo, & some people are in for a rude introduction to the difference between fighting the Zbik, Sturm, Ghevors of Europe & the likes of Martinez.

Sorry.

I must have Sturm on my mind, he's a handsome bloke.

Granted, Sturm is on the slide, but I think that part of the reason why Macklin lost, and I had him a 115-113 loser, is that he showed a good engine on the night yet didn't have any gears. Macklin loaded on every shot, tired, naturally, and the precise punching of Sturm rose in prominense as the rounds ticked by.

Macklin told me that he knows where he went wrong, what to fix and how he could have made adjustments in the fight itself to make his performance more effective. Knowing him and his way of doing things, I think he'll improve for this fight.

As for the other side of the equation, if Martinez is elite then we need to invent a whole new class for really elite guys such as Floyd and Marquez, who make Martinez look like a middling pressure fighter. Sure, Sergio beat the slap happy, epically overrated Williams, at the second attempt, although I felt he deserved the first one, and the drunken redneck, but he failed to fire against Barker, who falls into your category of decent European fighters whereas Floyd, for instance, took on a far more accomplishewd British guy in Hatton and utterly demolished him.

Go back further to Martinez's results against Cintron and Margarito, which was way back when Margo was younger, fresher but still the same 1-D plodder, and Martinez's record doesn't quite stack up as a top, top level fighter in the way Floyd's and others do.

You may be thinking, 'Martinez learned from Cintron and the first Williams fight, improved and cracked on from there to become world class', and that is a fair point. It can also be applied to Macklin, who has a firm notion of what he is going to do in this fight and could pull it off.

I'm not daft, he is the underdog, but at some point one of these underdogs is going to show Martinez for what he is, a big, tough southpaw who has found form yet is miles away from being on a par with the one or two truly elite fighters operating today.

No need to apologise for anything other than applying an 'elite' tag to Segio!

i think you're being abit harsh on sergio. his late peak has indeed been elite. it doesn't get much better than what he did to williams and dzinsiruk, two extremely dificult opponents easily dismissed and demolished.

macklin should make for aperfect foil for martinez. these 2 should gel and produce one hell of a fight. i liek the matchup as it's basically two big light middles, hungry guys with contrasting styles. hopefully no head clashes, injuries, accidents, etc.

[Autobarn]

but I am certain that Martinez's top level claims do not hold water unless you create a higher level for someone like Floyd.

or a lower level for someone like Sturm (or, say, Dzinzuruk)

Decent Euro-level champ. So that makes Floyd super-level elite level, Marquez is elite level and Martinez is world class?

marquez was way out of his weight class with mayweather, who never even bothered with the catchweight.

when mayweather went up in weights, he did it gradually and not always with sterling performances (i.e. castillo 1 at 135, sharmbah mitchell/demarcus corley at 140)...

JMM going up to fight mayweather at welter was a great payday, but a lot was against him that night.

[Counter-puncher]

anyone else out in NY for the fight? landed yesterday 8)

enjoy, mate

[black panther]

Been a fan of Macklin ever since I saw his second fight where as a fresh-faced welterweight he knocked out some journeyman with a peach of a right hand which was set up by a distracting wide left hook. He looked much more a boxer than a pressure fighter in those days.

I just don't think he's got the speed of foot to catch up with Martinez and will caught numerous times on the way in. Sadly, I'm predicting a Martinez stoppage around round 7.

[jamesmcdonnell]

looks slightly too 'built' to me....

[jamesmcdonnell]

He may have been the same weight but he looked like two different fighters physically. Not that it would have made any difference.

Well he trained a lot differently, looked physically much stronger against pacman III

[gobbles]

That looks like a handsome old-school looking gym. Anyone know where it is?

It's the Trinity Boxing gym right next to Ground Zero. Froch trained there to before Ward.

[black panther]

Wishing Macklin the best of luck! Happy St. Patricks day! I did predict he'll lose but nothing is impossibble: it's not a "secret" that a British fighter had Martinez on the floor twice...

[Autobarn]

dragging on a bit here.

i still fail to see how martinez-cintron was a blemish. a terrible robbery. cintron lost by KO, DQ and on points.

[slapbangwhallop]

[forcefraser]

Anyone know Macklin's ring walk time?

[Autobarn]

dragging on a bit here.

i still fail to see how martinez-cintron was a blemish. a terrible robbery. cintron lost by KO, DQ and on points.

I'm not saying it wasn't, but would Floyd Mayweather have registered the same result if he took on Cintron. No, and people would go gibbering bonkers if he even considered fighting him. When it comes to Martinez's P4P status, there's a huge gulf between where he is, where Marquez and Manny are, and then Floyd.

i'd put martinez right near the top in the p4p stakes.

mayweather is more of a part time fighter now, still registering excellent performances, but already safely in the "great" category" due to his long career at the top.

regarding martinez struggling vs euro level barker etc, i recall hopkins (the last great middleweight champ) struggling to impress vs a euro level fighter - morrade hakkar. hakkar had less talent than barker, spoiled even more & hopkins really laboured to victory.

i like martinez's title fights with live opponents. since oct 2008 he's fought 8 times and only darren barker was not ranked as a top 10 world class opponent.

i reckon sergio would've been an elite fighter much sooner, had he been granted his shot at vernon forrest at 154. but forrest was doing those contender fights on showtime.

hoping for another positive, lively opponent next time - daniel geale gets my vote, the IBF champ at 160.

[Final round]

Well done to Macklin, he did the best he could. He boxed well and kept his focus well for a few rounds but every time Martinez landed with that left it looked like it could be a finishing blow.
Martinez looked pretty fresh and unmarked at the end of the fight in contrast to a bust up Macklin.

I'd like to see Macklin v Barker next or Murray .

[Autobarn]

well, comparisons can be taken too far. i'm only pointing out not looking great vs a european challenger. (just as barker was EBU champ prior to martinez, so was hakkar just before taking on hopkins.)

also, re the "euro level", "world level" disctinctions. i don't see sturm as merely euro level. splinter champ, yes. sylvester is euro level, and sturm boxed his ears off. sturm's had a few favours, but he was done an injustice on a certain very big card when he took on DLH.

i don't see 160 as weak. it was weaker than diluted urine, when hopkins was champ. hopkins was fighting some very average challengers such as allen, mercado and so on, some of them more than once. 160 currently has live challengers, and is producing livelier fights.

middleweight now has some nice talent. macklin is a very good fighter, and both paul williams and kelly pavlik were a handful. dzinziruk's also a good boxer, and macklin, barker & going back richard williams were the best brits we've had in these 154-160 classes (the latter 3 all stopped by sergio).

martinez is too small at 160 to move up - he was struggling with the height of pavlik and barker. there's plenty for hi at middle. to further the hopkins analogy, i'd like martinez-chavez, just to sort out the title mess (the belt belonging to martinez).

martinez for me is a superb fighter who has upped his game, just as he has taken the greater risks. no other 154-pounder since mike mccallum has been as successful as a middleweight until martinez. that includes DLH and tito and winky wright (who like sergio took on the best of britain). terry norris seemed set to try, perhaps vs james toney (what a fight that would've been) until his vulnerabilities were laid bare by the likes of simon brown & troy dorsey.