By Nate Anderson: Talented middleweight Matthew Macklin (21-2, 16 KOs) defeated ring veteran Luis Ramon “Yory Boy” Campas (91-12, 73 KOs) by a tough 10-round unanimous decision last night at the National Stadium in Dublin, Ireland last night. Macklin, 25, who is in a transition period with his new trainer Buddy McGirt after recently quitting the British trainer Billy Graham (who also currently trains Ricky Hatton), used more boxing and defense against the 36 year-old Campas last night en route to beating him by a 98-95 score.
As is often the case with Macklin, he started out rather quickly in the opening round as he attacked Campas with hard combinations. However, unlike his past performances, Macklin backed off often and used his jab to avoid going to war with Campas for the duration of the opening round. For his part, Campas wanted nothing better than to trade on the inside with Macklin, as he continuously came forward digging hooks to the body of Macklin.
If this was the old version of Macklin, the one that went toe-to-toe with Jamie Moore in a 10-round TKO loss in September 2006, I fully would have expected to see Macklin stand and trade with Campas until one of them were knocked out. However, Macklin showed a lot of patience and maturity by not falling into his old ways and thus playing into the hands of Campas. As it is, Macklin rather easily won the first three rounds using his jab, distance and short bursts of rapid fire combinations to outland Campas. Clearly, McGirt’s positive influences were seen with Macklin, who avoided punching himself out in the early rounds like he did with Moore.
Macklin looked extremely strong at middleweight, no longer having to trim off muscle to make the 154 lb light middleweight limit – his former class. The weight gain didn’t seem to effect his movement for Macklin had little trouble moving around the ring, firing jabs frequently into the reddening face of Campas. In the 4th round, however, Macklin, traded shots with Campas, seemingly slipping into his old style of fighting and forgoing any thoughts of defense. Campas was able to land some good shots to the head of Macklin.
Fortunately for Macklin, he had a bit more to give than Campas and beat him with solid shots in every exchange between them in this round. Macklin looked very good trading shots, as he ducked many of Campas’ incoming fire and without a beat, fired back with his own shots to the head.
Macklin continued to brawl with Campas in rounds five and six, as both fighters landing huge shots to the head and body. It seemed as if Macklin felt that he had nothing to fear from Campas and hence was willing to fight in the style and pace that Campas wanted to fight in. Again, Macklin’s shots were both harder and more often, but Campas looked remarkably good for a fighter his age, and his punching form – hooks to the body and head – were superb. I think he’d make a good trainer when he finally decides to hang up the gloves someday.
In rounds seven and eight, Macklin began to look noticeably fatigued as his pace and punch output dropped. Campas, however, remained the same, though sweating more. He continued to press the fight to Macklin, not giving him any rest and forcing him to fight. Macklin responded well getting the better of Campas with frequent 3-4 punch combinations.
In the 9th and 10th rounds, Macklin used his jab more and frequent in and out attacks to avoid standing and brawling with Campas. In the 9th, Campas landed a hard left hook to the head and I wondered if Macklin was hurt. However, he immediately pulled it together and fought off Campas’ attack. The 10th round had both fighters landing well with combinations as Campas, who had nothing left in terms of power by this time, gamely attempted to score a knockout.
It was a good win for Macklin, who may be the best middleweight in the UK. I would pick him over John Duddy in a head to head matchup. Indeed, that would be a fight to watch as both fighters are clearly the top talents in the UK, and it would be interesting to see who comes out on top.