Macklin faces Jorge Sebastian Heiland in WBC 160 lb eliminator on August 30th

By Boxing News - 07/21/2014 - Comments

macklinBy Scott Gilfoid: Despite #9 WBC Matthew Macklin (30-5, 20 KOs) having lost 3 out of his last 5 fights, his promoter Eddie Hearn from Matchroom Sport has got him a matched up with #4 WBC Jorge Sebastian Heiland (23-4-2, 11 KOs) in a WBC middleweight title eliminator bout on August 30th at the National Stadium, in Dublin, Ireland.

The winner of the Macklin-Heiland fight becomes the mandatory challenger for WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto. I really can’t see Cotto bothering to face the winner of the Macklin-Heiland fight. Cotto isn’t going to face someone that boxing fans in the U.S don’t care to see, so he’s likely going to make the winner of the Macklin-Heiland sit around for ages until he vacates or gets beaten.

If Saul “Canelo” Alvarez beats Cotto next year to capture his WBC title, I doubt he’d burn up one of his pay-per-view fights facing Macklin or Heiland. He’ll either vacate or sit on the title facing other guys. He’s not going to fight either of them because it would be perceived as a terrible mismatch, and fans would have zero interest in wanting to see him fight either of them.

Yeah, I know, it’s kind of hard to sink your teeth around the idea of someone with 3 defeats in his last 5 fights like Macklin, but this is boxing. You see stuff like that all the time. The logical question is why is the World Boxing Council sanctioning a fight between the #9 WBC Macklin and the #4 WBC Heiland when there are arguably better options to fight in a WBC eliminator such as #3 WBC Curtis Stevens, #2 WBC David Lemieux or #12 WBC Tureano Johnson? I rate those three fighters as much higher quality options for a WBC eliminator than I do Heiland, who has lost 2 out of his last 6 fights against obscure opposition, and Macklin with his three defeats in his last five fights.

In the last 2 years, the 27-year-old Heiland has lost to Mateo Damian Veron (16-8) and Billi Facundo Godoy. Heiland doesn’t have any wins at all over well known opposition. It seems his claim to fame is a loss to Sebastian Zbik in 2010 in a failed attempt to capture the interim WBC middleweight title. Heiland lost the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision in a one-sided fight. Zbik is a former WBC middleweight champion who many boxing fans saw as a paper champion. He’s the guy that Julio Cesar Chavez Jr beat in 2011 to capture the WBC title.

Macklin said “It’s great to have an eliminator to put me straight back in the frame for another World title fight. Heiland is rated number four with the WBC so I’m sure he will be coming to Ireland with his own World title ambitions. It’s a must win fight for me and it doesn’t matter what he brings to the ring on August 30, he won’t be beating me.”

It’s a tossup fight between Macklin and Heilland as far as who will win. Both guys are badly flawed, each to hit, and have never beaten anyone remotely good during their careers.
“I can’t wait for our first show in Dublin, the fans are in for a real treat,” said Hearn. “It’s a stacked card with Matthew in a hugely important fight that puts him in a great position to challenge for another World title. We’ve seen Matthew denied of what I believe was a victory in Germany against Sturm and a great performance against Sergio Martinez – the Cotto fight would be a great event. He is straight back in at the deep end against Heiland but let’s be honest, he wouldn’t want it any other way!”

I hate to be the one to break this to Hearn, but the chances of Macklin getting a title shot against Cotto are about as bad they can get. I mean, I don’t blame Hearn for talking it up to get British boxing fans excited about the outside chance of Macklin getting a fight against Cotto. It obviously will help sell the Macklin-Heiland fight, but you’ve to be realistic about this.

Cotto is nearing the end of his career, and he’s not going to waste time fighting either Heiland or Macklin, because those are not pay-per-view worthy opponents for him in the U.S. If the WBC pushes Cotto, which I doubt they will, he’ll simply dump their strap, and then they’ll be stuck with either of those two fighting for the vacant title against the likes of Marco Antonio Rubio. We’re obviously talking much, much lower sanctioning fees from a fight of that kind. That’s why I don’t see the WBC rocking the boat by forcing Cotto to face those guys. Cotto will likely be able to sit on the WBC title for a couple of years until he retires or until he gets beaten.



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