By Scott Gilfoid: #8 IBF, #11 WBC junior middleweight contender Matthew Macklin (34-6, 22 KOs) will be facing former world title challenger Brian Rose (28-3-1, 8 KOs) in a scheduled 12 round bout on April 9 on the undercard of the heavyweight clash between IBF champion Charles Martin and Anthony Joshua at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
The card will be televised on Sky Box Office. The Macklin-Rose fight will take place in the 154lb division. Macklin recently moved down to that weight class in his last fight against Jason Welborn last October.
I can’t say that Macklin looks any better at 154 than he did at 160, but at least he didn’t get knocked out, so that’s a positive.
Rose and Macklin have been struggling as of late in losing their meaningful fights and beating lower level opposition. With the way that the two fighters keep getting second and third chances, you can’t really say this is the last chance saloon for either of them. All I know is that they both lose when put up against quality opposition, and I can’t see either of them ever winning a world title, even against a paper champion. Macklin, 33, has fought for world titles three times and lost all three fights.
Despite getting beaten over and over and over again, Macklin is still ranked in the top 15 by the IBF and WBC. It’s hard to understand what the sanctioning bodies are thinking about in keeping Macklin ranked. Macklin’s latest defeat was to Jorge Sebastian Heiland in a 10th round knockout defeat in November 2014. Macklin has since won his last three fights against Welborn, Chris Herrmann and Sandor Micsko. Those aren’t world class operators, are they? It’s good that Macklin has won his last three fights, but it’s bad that he’s had to dip into second tier fodder in order to get the wins.
Fighting Matt macklin on 9th April . Great fight for the fans . The fight is made at middle weight . These are the kind of fights I want 👊
— Brian Rose (@Brian_Lion_Rose) February 19, 2016
“Fighting Matt Macklin on 9th April. Great fight for the fans. The fight is made at middle weight. These are the kind of fights I want,” Rose said on his Twitter.
The 31-year-old Rose has won his last two fights against Ruslans Pojonisevs and Carson Jones after getting whipped by Carson Jones in a 1st round knockout defeat in February of 2015. Rose’s win over Carson last August was unimpressive one, as they both looked terrible. Rose was blown out of the water by former WBO junior middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade by a 7th round knockout loss in June 2014.
Rose looked like he didn’t belong in the same ring with Andrade. Rose literally had the look of him like someone that stumbled into the wrong ring. He clearly didn’t belong in there with a talent like Andrade, and it’s fortunate the beating was stopped in the 7th, because it could have been worse had the mismatch been allowed to continue.
“It is great fight for the fans,” Rose said to the Blackpool Gazette. “We are both in the same sort of situation – we both have to win to get to the next level, to try and win a world title. It will be devastating for me [if I lose].”
Heck, even if Rose wins, were is he going to go in the junior middleweight division? I mean, it’s not as if a win over Macklin translates to Rose becoming a world champion. Rose would still need to beat the likes of Jermall Charlo, Erislandy Lara, or Liam Smith to become a world champion. I cannot see that happening in this lifetime. The same goes for Macklin. If he beats Rose, then so what? I don’t see Macklin turning around and defeating the Charlo bothers or Lara afterwards. Even Liam Smith, who I see as little more than a weak paper champion, would likely be way too much for Macklin to deal with.
I think Macklin will be too powerful for the light hitting Rose. This is a mismatch in my view unless Macklin lets Rose hang around until the later rounds. Macklin doesn’t have the greatest stamina in the world, so Rose has a chance if he can take the aging three-time world title challenger loser to the later rounds. My guess is Macklin will blast Rose out in the first two rounds after nailing him with everything he has in the early going.
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