By Scott Gilfoid: Middleweight contender Matthew Macklin (38-3, 19 KO’s) sees himself as being as strong as an ox as he heads into his fight against WBC middleweight Diamond strap holder Sergio Martinez (48-2-2 27 KO’s) at the Madison Square Garden, in New York, New York. Macklin is what you’d call a long shot to win this fight and that’s being kind.

Macklin has no chance and seems to be pulling too much from his belief that he thought he should have beat the fading WBA World middleweight champion Felix Sturm last June. He didn’t. Macklin got beat, and is a huge underdog for this fight against Martinez on Saturday.

Macklin told RingTV “I’m as strong as an ox…I was probably a bigger underdog for the Sturm fight and I proved myself. I’m going to give a helluva performance and definitely be the new middleweight champion of the world.”

Macklin sounds deluded about his chances against Martinez. Macklin failed in the Sturm fight after running out of fuel after four rounds. I had Sturm winning pretty much every round from the fifth on with his powerful combinations and cleaner shots. Macklin was landing more often but he had nothing on his shots and just looked really, really tired.

Macklin was fighting on fumes for the last eight rounds and it’s strange that he never was able to get his second wind. Macklin got tired and stayed tired, even though he kept throwing punches. He would have been much better off to cut his work rate in half and looking to land harder shots so he wasn’t so gassed out. If he tries to overwhelm Martinez with punches like he did Sturm, then Macklin will get knocked out. He doesn’t have the stamina to fight 12 rounds bouts, and it’s not just the Sturm fight he gassed out in. Macklin also faded badly against Ruben Varon and Jamie Moore.