By Scott Gilfoid: #3 WBC middleweight contender Matthew Macklin (29-4, 20 KO’s) says a fight between him and former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) is a possibility for April next year. Macklin had been mentioned as a possibility for a fight against WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, but Macklin will be having nose surgery in January, according to Irish-boxing.com.

Macklin says that Chavez Jr. won’t be fighting a rematch with WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez in March or April because Martinez will be fighting another opponent in Argentina at that time. As such, Macklin sees himself being the guy that Chavez Jr. fights in March or April in Las Vegas, Nevada.

There’s a couple of things wrong with this scenario. First of all, Chavez Jr. will likely be still suspended in April due to his positive marijuana test for his loss to Martinez last September. Chavez Jr. hasn’t been given his suspension yet by the Nevada State Athletic Commission but you can bet it’ll be coming soon and it’ll likely take him beyond April. Okay, that’s the first problem with Macklin’s hoped for fight with Chavez Jr. The second and perhaps the most important part is that Macklin doesn’t bring anything to the table in a fight like this.

It’s not as if Macklin is a huge draw in the United States or Mexico. Knowing Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, he’ll want to stage Chavez Jr’s next fight in Texas so that he can draw from the huge Mexican community there. A fight between Chavez Jr. and Macklin is a fight where Chavez Jr. would be the only one drawing the fans to the fight. Chavez Jr doesn’t need that type of opponent. He needs someone that can sell tickets and place backsides in seats. Macklin would be a fine opponent if the fight were to take place in Ireland or England, but that’s not going to happen with a superstar like Chavez Jr. It’s going to take place in the U.S and I can’t see a guy Macklin getting the fight.

The other problem with Macklin is that he’s lost two out of his last three fights. How can HBO televise a fight between one fighter that just lost his last fight in Chavez Jr. another that has lost two out of his last three in Macklin? Good god, what an awful fight and I don’t see how this would interest anyone. I guess you could stage the fight in New York so that Macklin could attract a lot of Irish boxing fans, but do you honestly think Chavez Jr. would agree to fighting there? I don’t.