(Photo by James Higgins) By Scott Gilfoid: Right now things are going swimmingly for Matthew Macklin (28-3, 19 KO’s) as he heads into this Saturday’s fight against WBC Diamond middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KO’s) at the Madison Square Garden in New York. Things are still full of promise for the 29-year-old Macklin as he soaks up the limelight in his 15 minutes of fame before the bottom drops out on him and he finds out how truly fleeting fame is.

It’s pretty much academic at this point that Macklin’s going to lose on Saturday. There’s no real mystery about this fight. It’s like predicting the sun will come up in the morning in the middle of the summer. You know it’s going to happen, and it’s going to be brutal hot when it does.

Macklin is the wrong fighter with the wrong style against the wrong kind of knockout artist in this fight. I know the Brits are hoping for one of those happy endings to this story but it’s not going to happen. This is real life and I can’t see it being a good ending for Macklin unless he’s developed some skills over night.

This is how I see this fight going down: Macklin is going to come out with his head lowered like a bull and will immediately rusk Martinez like he’s a knockout artist in the class of Julian Jackson instead of what he is an average puncher. Martinez will start teeing off on Macklin with jabs and left hands, reddening his face. Macklin will get in close for the old clinch and customary shot while in a bear hug. I hope he doesn’t throw any illegal punches, because I hate that when you get a guy going rabbit crazy in the clinch trying to brain his opposition. Once they get separated Martinez will begin to tenderize Macklin’s white skin to the point where he looks like a red beet. Around that time Martinez will likely KO Macklin by the fourth or fifth rounds to end the massacre.