By Scott Gilfoid: UK middleweight contender Matthew Macklin (28-3, 19 KO’s) could have the fight of his life on March 17th against WBC Diamond middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KO’s) and still end up getting bloody, battered and stopped inside the distance in their fight at the Madison Square Garden in New York.

Macklin, 29, is counting on a lot of Irish Americans to flock to the fight on March 17th and give him a lot of support to help him get over the Martinez hurdle. And I do believe a fair amount of Irish boxing fans will show up, but I don’t see any of that will have any bearing on the fight.

Martinez is one of those seek and destroy type fighters and he’ll be tuning out any noise from the crowd in this fight while he goes after Macklin to KO him. He’s going to batter Macklin and send him back home on a long fight where Macklin will have tons of time to think about what he could have done different to save himself the humiliating knockout loss.

I just hope that Macklin doesn’t’ beat himself up too badly for this because there really isn’t anything he can do that would change the outcome of this fight. This is one of those rare situations where Macklin is damned no matter what he does. If he runs, Martinez catch up to him eventually and knock him out.

If Macklin tries to go right after Martinez the same way Macklin did in his loss to Felix Sturm last June, then the fight will likely end by the 3rd round at the latest. Macklin has few options that will help him. He’s in big trouble.

It’s a good thing the fight won’t take place in the UK, because he won’t have to worry about getting beat in front of them all. However, the real boxing fans from that neck of the woods will still see Macklin take this beating so I guess it all amounts to the same.

Martinez needs to get this guy out of there quick so that he can make a statement and move ahead to a fight against WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. next.