Golovkin vs. Macklin close to being finalized for June 29th

By Scott Gilfoid: The talked about fight between WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (26-0, 23 KO’s) and #3 WBC, #14 IBF, Matthew Macklin (29-4, 20 KO’s) is close to being finalized for June 29th according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. The two fighters have agreed to the particulars and the fight should be finalized by the end of this week.

There still isn’t a venue for the fight, but it could take place at the Foxwoods resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut. It wouldn’t be a home fight for either guy, so there’s no advantage for either fighter. Macklin is from the UK, while Golovkin is from Kazakhstan but lives in Stuttgart, Germany.

As far as the co-feature goes, unbeaten super middleweight talent Thomas Oosthuizen (21-0-1, 13 KO’s) will be facing undefeated Brandon Gonzalez (17-0, 10 KO’s). That fight is still in the negotiation stage but it’s looking good for June 29th.

Also on the card will be the hard hitting junior middleweight contender Willie Nelson (20-1-1, 12 KO’s) facing an opponent still to be determined. It should be interesting to see who steps up to the challenge to face the lanky but powerful Nelson because he’s been destroying his opponents lately.

Macklin, 30, is really up against it in this fight and it’s difficult to imagine him making it past the 5th round unless he fights totally defensive. If Macklin can scamper around the ring like he did against Sergio Martinez last year in March, then I can see him surviving until the 6th round, but he’s going to have to really run in this fight because if he stops to trade for any length of time, Golovkin is going to stagger him and knock him out cold.

Macklin doesn’t have the tools to go toe-to-toe with Golovkin or even to land occasional shots. Macklin is going to need to run just like Gabriel Rosado did if he wants to see the second half of this fight. It’s basically a no-win fight for Macklin. The only thing you can really guess about is how long it lasts before Golovkin poleaxes Macklin. Like I said, if Macklin runs, he’ll last a lot longer but not that long.