By Scott Gilfoid: #9 WBC Matthew Macklin (31-5, 20 KOs) will be facing WBC International middleweight champion Jorge Sebastian Heiland (24-4-2, 12 KOs) next month in a World Boxing Council 160 pound title eliminator bout on November 15th at the 3Arena, Dublin, Ireland.
The Macklin-Heiland fight was supposed to have taken place on August 30th, but it had to be moved to 11/15 due to Macklin’s trainer Jaime Moore suffering a gunshot wound in Spain.
I’m sure Macklin would absolutely love to get a crack at Miguel Cotto or Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, but I don’t see that happening even if he beats Heiland. Those guys are very, very selective in who they face now, and they’re not going to take a fight against a former three time world title challenger who has lost all three fights.
Heiland is ranked #6 by the WBC, but he’s never beaten anyone of note and he’s plenty of times against obscure opposition with less than stellar opposition.