By Scott Gilfoid: Former two time world title challenger Matthew Macklin (30-5, 20 KO’s) will be back in the ring on August 30th in Dublin, Ireland against an opponent still to be determined.
This could be a possible warmup fight for the 32-year-old Macklin to face #4 WBC junior middleweight contender Andy Lee (33-2, 23 KO’s) in November, as Eddie Hearn from Matchroom Sport is said to be interested in putting this fight together. If so, this domestic level clash would be similar to the fight that Hearn plans on putting together later this year between Tony Bellew and Nathan Cleverly in the cruiserweight division.
Lee and Macklin aren’t really factors in their respective divisions, and this might be as good as it gets for them other than possibly a title shot here and there.
Macklin will be on the undercard of Lee’s fight on August 30th.
Maclin said on his twitter “August 30 in Dublin – 5yrs since I boxed in Ireland & 4yrs since I boxed in UK. Nice to be fighting back over this side of the Atlantic!”
Macklin has lost 3 out of his last 5 fights in the last 3 years, and his career is really sinking badly at this time. It’s not that Macklin has gone downhill as a fighter, because he seems to be fighting with the same ability as he always has. The problem is he’s faced three good fighters in Gennady Golovkin, Felix Sturm and Sergio Martinez, and they all beat him.
In Macklin’s last fight, he struggled to beat little known fighter Lamar Russ by a 10 round unanimous decision last December. Macklin looked terrible in that fight, and was lucky that Russ didn’t have much in the way of power or stamina. If he had a little more power, the chances are high that he would have knocked Macklin out.
Lee, 30, kept his career alive by stopping John Jackson in the 5th round last June at Madison Square Garden in New York. Lee was getting really pounded by Johnson for the first 4 rounds, and had been knocked down by him. But in the 5th round, Lee got a miracle knockout to save his career. However, Lee did not look good for an instant in that fight other than the knockout, and after watching that fight, it’s very, very difficult to see what Lee can do at 154 or 160 other than get a world title shot and lose badly.
Lee won’t get a shot against WBC junior middleweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr, and he doesn’t match up well against the other junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara, Carlos Molina and Demetrius Andrade. Lee would likely be out of his league if he challenged middleweight champions Miguel Cotto, Sam Soliman, Peter Quillin and Golovkin.
At this point I think Lee vs. Macklin is the best thing that either of these guys can hope for. It would be good if Hearn can put them together 2-3 times the way that Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora are fighting each other again despite there really being no need for a rematch.
If the UK fans are interested in seeing Lee and Macklin fight each other, then they should fight as often as possible, because I don’t think they’re going to do well at all if they get thrown in the ring with champions at 154 or 160.
The last time Macklin fought in Dublin, Ireland was when he beat Rafael Sosa Pintos by a 10 round decision 5 years ago in 2009. This was when Macklin’s career was going strong with him having won 11 consecutive fights.
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