By Scott Gilfoid: Middleweight contender Matthew Macklin (28-3, 19 KO’s) is facing an almost certain knockout loss coming up in his fight against former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KO’s) on March 17th at Madison Square Garden, in New York.

I don’t see Macklin being on the same level as Martinez to tell you the truth. Rather than fighting Martinez, Macklin should be on the undercard facing Ireland’s Andy Lee. That fight makes a heck of a lot more sense than to put Macklin in with Martinez for utter destruction.

At least if you put Macklin in with Lee, Macklin would have a chance to win due to Lee’s shaky chin, upright stance, poor defense and porous defense. But a Macklin-Martinez fight is like scheduling Macklin for a brutal knockout loss. It’s like going to the dentist for a root canal without any pain medication. Macklin doesn’t have a chance in this fight.

Macklin said “Sergio is going to have to be ready. I am coming forward all night and I am coming for war. I am very confident I will be leaving the ring on March 17th as the new champion.”

So Macklin plans on going right after Martinez, eh? I can’ think of a more stupid thing to do than that. You don’t want to go right at Martinez unless you have a death wish. He knocks guys out cold that come at. That’s probably why Darren Barker fought so cautiously against Martinez last October.

It only helped Barker for a while because Martinez got him out in the 11th when he put some pressure on Barker. Macklin will be doing Martinez’s work for him if he goes right at him and tries to slug. Macklin doesn’t have the chin or the power to fight like that.

We saw how Macklin was getting lit up by Felix Sturm in his last fight last June. He just didn’t have the power or the hand speed to beat Sturm. Since then, Macklin has been sitting back doing absolutely nothing and ended up wasting a lot of time where he could have slipped in one more fight.