Martinez comes on late to stop Macklin!

By Boxing News - 03/17/2012 - Comments

Image: Martinez comes on late to stop Macklin!By Jason Kim: Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) came on late to get a stoppage of Matthew Macklin on Saturday night in stopping him after the 11th round had ended at the Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. Martinez knocked Macklin down twice in the 11th round and had him on the verge of being stopped during the round. However, time ran out before Martinez could add to it.

Macklin’s trainer decided it might not be wise to send Macklin out for more punishment after the 11th, and in hindsight it was a good decision. Macklin looked gassed out from the 8th round on, and it was almost identical to the way Macklin tired out in his previous fight against WBA World middleweight champion Felix Sturm last June, but the difference here is Martinez had the power to finish the tired Macklin off.

The fight was pretty even up until the 8th, with Macklin taking the fight to Martinez and even knocking him down in the 7th. Things changed starting in the 8th. Martinez appeared to get angry or more determined after being dropped by Macklin in the previous round. Martinez began to load up with everything he threw from that point in the fight.

Macklin fans can gain confidence that he was able to fight Martinez so competitive for the first seven rounds of the fight. However, if you look at how Martinez fought former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in beating him by a 12 round decision in April 2010, this is the exact same way that Martinez fought. In the Pavlik fight, Martinez threw mostly single shots in the first half of the fight. However, after the first six rounds, Martinez began to turn up the heat by throwing powerful combinations and at that point he took over the fight. This is exactly what Martinez did tonight against the lighter hitting Macklin.



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