Macklin thinks he can wear Sergio Martinez down with a fast pace on Saturday

By Boxing News - 03/12/2012 - Comments

Image: Macklin thinks he can wear Sergio Martinez down with a fast pace on SaturdayBy William Mackay: Middleweight contender Matthew Macklin (28-3, 19 KO’s) thinks his youth, power and stamina will be too much for WBC Diamond middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KO’s) in their important HBO televised bout on Saturday night at the Madison Square Garden, New York, New York. Macklin, 29, is the underdog in the fight, but he’s confident he can win it due to his success in his controversial 12 round split decision loss against WBA World middleweight champion Felix Sturm last June in Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Macklin told ESPN.co.uk “I am going to war from round one. I have the youth, strength, size and desire to walk through anything Sergio has. I will go through walls on St. Patrick’s Day to win this fight and I’ll set a pace from the very first bell that Sergio won’t be able to cope with.”

You have to wonder if Macklin is at all serious about his plans go try and out-punch Martinez because that kind of style has never worked, aside from the controversial 12 round decision win Paul Williams got against Martinez in December 2009. That was a judges’ decision, whereas in the court of public opinion, boxing fans universally saw Martinez as the winner of that fight. The kinds of fighters that Martinez has had problems against were boxer/punchers like Kermit Cintron and Darren Barker. The straight up sluggers have never done well against Martinez and that’s what makes it kind of surprising that Macklin is so convinced he can find success battling Martinez in that manner.

If Macklin comes straight at Martinez in this fight, it’s going to be like feeding a gold fish to a shark. It’ll be too easy for Martinez because he’s faster, stronger and he punches from the southpaw stance. He’ll catch Macklin with someone thing in between one of Macklin’s slapping shots and put him down for the count. Macklin can’t really punch but fights like a slugger. He needs to change his fighting style because he’s a knockout waiting to happen against quality fighters like Martinez.



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