By Jim Dower: WBC Diamond middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) stopped Ireland’s Matthew Macklin (28-4, 19 KO’s) in the 11th round on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. Martinez, 37, knocked a tired and hurt Macklin down twice in the 11th round with big left hand shots. After the round ended, Macklin’s trainer Buddy McGirt had the fight stopped due to Macklin being far too hurt to recover in time for the 12th round.

Martinez seemed to be fighting in a neutral gear for the first seven rounds. However, after getting knocked to the canvas in the 7th round, Martinez began to step it up and throw harder shots and more combinations. Macklin couldn’t adjust to the bigger shots and the faster pace by Martinez and he began to get hit a lot. Late in the 10th round, Martinez hit Macklin with a big left hand that knocked his mouthpiece out and sent him retreating to the ropes. From there it seemed almost academic that the fight wouldn’t be going too much longer.

Martinez had problems with Macklin’s head movement initially and his low stance. Macklin was really low and shifting around a lot. Unlike a lot of the guys that fight Martinez, Macklin wasn’t trying to land a lot of head shots – at least initially. Macklin’s focus was more on landing body shots in the early going and he was finding a lot of luck hitting Martinez because he didn’t have to worry about hitting a moving target like Martinez’s head. However, Macklin changed his emphasis starting in the 4th by aiming more and more shots and Martinez’s head and not having as much good luck in landing.

Martinez’s power and speed advantage was very much evident early on, as he was able to connect with hard left hand shots as Macklin was coming in. The shots would often knock Macklin back a couple of steps. Sometimes that was due to Martinez stepping on Macklin’s feet as he would throw his shots.