Winky Wright v Macklin!!

[banjo]

YES!!! One of my favourite fighters to expose a miserly midlander

[banjo]

Macklin points i think, dont think wright will have much left. How about Barker vs Tito Trinidad on the undercard DD

Hahahaha don't think barker would scoop so low!

EH?!?!?!?!

Trinidad would turn Barker into the first Englishman to visit the moon.

[simonsays]

Some of the comments on here crease me up.

I'd have liked to see the Barker fight happen but I am almost happy he has been left in the lurch again just to sicken Barker's deluded fans that always seem to crawl out of the woodwork like grubs everytime there is a Macklin thread.

"Wonderful and exciting that Winky and Macklin is happening, IMO. Just another cracking day for Irish boxing."

If that's an exciting day for an Irish boxing fan then thank god I'm not Irish! And will u die hard DELUDED Irish macklin fans be travelling to the states to watch your man get spanked thought not! DD DD

[slapbangwhallop]

Some of the comments on here crease me up.

I'd have liked to see the Barker fight happen but I am almost happy he has been left in the lurch again just to sicken Barker's deluded fans that always seem to crawl out of the woodwork like grubs everytime there is a Macklin thread.

"Wonderful and exciting that Winky and Macklin is happening, IMO. Just another cracking day for Irish boxing."

If that's an exciting day for an Irish boxing fan then thank god I'm not Irish! And will u die hard DELUDED Irish macklin fans be travelling to the states to watch your man get spanked thought not! DD DD

Here is one now, only three years and 40 posts, every one of them crawling another inch further up Barkers thóin. Brilliant!

[simonsays]

Some of the comments on here crease me up.

I'd have liked to see the Barker fight happen but I am almost happy he has been left in the lurch again just to sicken Barker's deluded fans that always seem to crawl out of the woodwork like grubs everytime there is a Macklin thread.

"Wonderful and exciting that Winky and Macklin is happening, IMO. Just another cracking day for Irish boxing."

If that's an exciting day for an Irish boxing fan then thank god I'm not Irish! And will u die hard DELUDED Irish macklin fans be travelling to the states to watch your man get spanked thought not! DD DD

Here is one now, only three years and 40 posts, every one of them crawling another inch further up Barkers thóin. Brilliant!

Didnt think u would bite so easily brilliant!

[slapbangwhallop]

If that's an exciting day for an Irish boxing fan then thank god I'm not Irish! And will u die hard DELUDED Irish macklin fans be travelling to the states to watch your man get spanked thought not! DD DD

Here is one now, only three years and 40 posts, every one of them crawling another inch further up Barkers thóin. Brilliant!

Didnt think u would bite so easily brilliant!

I know, what excellently laid bait!

[iwz678]

Would genuinely prefer to see Macklin fight Barker. If this is true, then im disappointed.

for us British fans its a shame he's not facing Barker, but for a Macklins career it makes sense to take on a name on a big American bill.

It's a great fight for his career. He'll win too.

Exactly, you've got to be in America to make it big, Barker isnt going to go out of Barnet with Hennessy as his promoter.

Wright is a massive name and he's there for the taking, sure Macklin's last fight wasnt his best, but he'll be well up for this and probably will be in the Wild Card sparring Pacman and Khan. Reservations about his Boxing ability, but still he deserves the chance and it's a multi-fight deal with Golden Boy from what I hear, so they obviously fancy him getting the job done.

[Deserter]

Hahahaha don't think barker would scoop so low!

Not to mention the fact that Tito would knock him out.

Macklin beats Barker for my money - always thought that - but if Winky isn't totally shot his world class jab and tight defence will give Matt nightmares.

Exactly, his southpaw stance, movement, spearing jab and turtle defence are a pressure fighter's nightmare. Here's hoping Macklin can step up his game though. I feel he is better than he showed in his last fight.

x2

[jessi]

beating washed up winky is going to make macklin big is it ?

barker would of been a much harder test and macklin knows it, can i blame him ? of course not, but if he struggles to look good or even win it could leave him with no where else to go except barker !

dissapointed barkers not next, but any how good luck mattew i think your need it.

[chiggsy]

I don't think macklin can be knocked for taking this fight.
He has been crying out for an opportunity to prove himself at world class level and this would appear to be his big chance.
I would love to see matt do well but if winky is 70% of the fighter he was in his prime I see him handing a pretty one sided boxing lesson to matt.
Still really looking forward to this card,hope all the fights materialise.

[lurkyshaka]

All depends on what Winky's got left....

If he's at 60% then he'll beat Macklin, if 80% he'll spank him.
But if he's below 60% then Macklin's youth will prevail.

Strange fight really because Macklin is unlikely to look good in the fight win, lose or draw. But i would imagine he's been promised a title shot by GB should he prevail, regardless of how he looks and there's the incentive. And if he does lose then i suppose the Barker fight would still be there though it would of course have lost some lustre.

All in all i understand why Macklin has gone for this deal, but its risky and a bit of a step into the unknown as the state of the 2011 version of Wright is anybodys guess. Could be a shell, could still be a danger.

[crusader]

The only way Macklin wins is if Wright is completely shot. I think there is a good chance that is the case. He's nearly 40, hasn't fought since 09, and lost pretty much every round in that fight.

[King Haye]

I hope winky still has some in the tank because I want peoe to see macklin is so overrated always has been.

[bennie]

It could have been Darren Barker, it should have been Darren Barker; instead, Birmingham's Matthew Macklin makes his way to Las Vegas on April 9 to face a faded Ronald "Winky" Wright over 10 rounds.
Macklin, the European middleweight champion, was lined up to face Londoner Barker in a big domestic clash in Birmingham last September but Barker pulled out injured, much to the disappointment of British boxing fans. They were scheduled to meet again in the spring after "Meaty" Mick Hennessy, Barker's promoter, won the purse bids in Rome earlier this month, but then came the announcement of Macklin-Wright, and we can safely say that Macklin-Barker is dead in the water. Macklin will relinquish his European title and concentrate on world honours if he gets past Wright, and it is more a case of when he gets past Wright.
Two or three years ago Wright would have toyed with someone like Macklin, but boxers age as quickly as dogs and the 39-year-old Wright looked stiff-legged in his last fight against fellow southpaw Paul Williams in Las Vegas in April 2009 as he slumped to a comprehensive points defeat over 12 rounds. Before that, in July 2007, Wright was also outscored by Bernard Hopkins over punishing 12 rounds. You wonder how much Wright has left after two long, hard defeats and obvious inactivity, after 21 years as a pro and 57 fights. Old dogs don't freshen up if you leave them lying around, and Wright has fought only Hopkins and Williams in the last four years.
Frankly, Wright is a stepping stone for the strong, aggressive, heavy handed Macklin as he zooms in on a world title shot under new promoter Oscar De La Hoya, and we can expect Matt to mix it up nicely as he thumps his way to a rather depressing decision win.

[stujones]

The only way Macklin wins is if Wright is completely shot. I think there is a good chance that is the case. He's nearly 40, hasn't fought since 09, and lost pretty much every round in that fight.

Agree, style wise a prime Wright would make destroy Macklin. He would be all wrong for Macklin, with that defence and that jab.

Even at 40, I give Wright a good chance, cause being slow on the legs might not be such a big problem if Macklin continues to come in in straight lines.

[Chris W 1982]

Wright by shutout

[ourkid1984]

Why do so many people talk up Macklin all of a sudden? I mean he's had a couple of good european level wins but in between those he's looked unorganised and crawled to unimpressive points wins while in the progress marking up pretty badly and time and time again coming up with excuses why it wasn't as good performance as he was talking up.

Barker has only looked unimpressive once and that was with a legitamate excuse in his last fight. As soon as Hennesy won the purse bids I knew Frank didn't want to put Macklin in with Barker so made the fight that money wise and fame wise makes more sense. So now he's fighting Winky Wright a big name with a good record but who has he beat at middleweight apart from a washed up Trinadad who retired after the fight and fought dirty during that fight? He hasn't beaten anyone and always fought at lower weight as soon as he started to put on a few pounds he fought some natuarally heavier men and lost in between having years off at a time. This is a sure sign that he only fights for money now and because he probably struggles to get down to his natural boxing weight this fight with a highly ranked european with Irish links (sells well) is his best option.

Apparently the winner gets a world title shot, is this the state of world boxing that someone who hasn't won since 2006 and that has fought and lost twice since then has the chance of getting a world title fight if he wins one fight in nearly 5 years!!!! And people say the heavyweight scene is bad

[Jeff Thomas]

Hate to sound negative on this one, but Macklin wins and he's beating a past it, former champion- he loses and he's back where he was after the Moore fight pretty much (euro title aside). I think if Winky has got anything left he'll be the perfect foil for Macklin he's simply better in every area. Shame I like Macklin.

[stujones]

Macklin has improved considerably since the Facey fight, but when I read about this that fight came to my mind. Now, whilst they are not the same stylistically, both Facey and Wright do love to counter errors and leaky defences... and they both love a come forward fighter, who boxers in relative straight lines.

Mackin has improved considerably, but Winky is (or was) about 3 leagues better than Facy also.

[saturday_kid]

Dunno how people can slag macklin for taking this fight, at the end of the day he has a family to support, also he's paid his dues domestically he's been after world level fights for ages now.

Take a domestic (albeit a very good one) fight with a promoter who hasn't even got a major TV deal, or take a multi fight deal with Goldenboy fighting a world level fighter (albeit faded) in Las Vegas??

What would you do.

Winky Wright on points by the way

[Dioufy]

If I didn't love boxing so much I'd fornicating hate it. Macklin should be forcing the Barker fight, because Macklin was moaning like a good 'un when Barker was the man and Macklin was in the cold. If he shouldn't do it for the fans, then he should do it for himself.

[Jeff Thomas]

Dunno how people can slag macklin for taking this fight, at the end of the day he has a family to support, also he's paid his dues domestically he's been after world level fights for ages now.

Take a domestic (albeit a very good one) fight with a promoter who hasn't even got a major TV deal, or take a multi fight deal with Goldenboy fighting a world level fighter (albeit faded) in Las Vegas??

What would you do.

Winky Wright on points by the way

I'd prefer the Barker fight if i'm honest mate- but like you say everyone has to make their own choices and perhaps he see's that as afinal elim for a title shot on HBO which it probably will be should he win.

[stujones]

I have a lot of sympathy for Macklin, Barker, Klitschko and Haye, who have all lost out on important fights already this year. But you cannot really slate Macklin or Wlad for not committing to fights against guys who have pulled out off previous engagements at such short notice. Once bitten etc.

Us nerds may write Winky off but his name still carries value. Cracking the American market requires wins over guys like this. He may be seen as Wrinkly Wright (you can’t use “Wrinkly Wright” on here without paying me a fee of 2p per use) these days but he is still a going concern for many US fans.

Absolutely, its a good fight. Even though clearly in decline, Wright still hasn't been embarrased at the very top level. He clearly lost to Williams, but he was competitive. Its still Macklin's toughest assignment to date.

[dbf]

Lost interest in Macklin now, changing promoters, trainers and opponents. I wonder if he will really go any further now?

[saturday_kid]

Dunno how people can slag macklin for taking this fight, at the end of the day he has a family to support, also he's paid his dues domestically he's been after world level fights for ages now.

Take a domestic (albeit a very good one) fight with a promoter who hasn't even got a major TV deal, or take a multi fight deal with Goldenboy fighting a world level fighter (albeit faded) in Las Vegas??

What would you do.

Winky Wright on points by the way

I'd prefer the Barker fight if i'm honest mate- but like you say everyone has to make their own choices and perhaps he see's that as afinal elim for a title shot on HBO which it probably will be should he win.

I agree mate, would definitely have rather seen the Barker fight, just a man has to think about his family and also chances for that world strap.