By Eric Thomas: Matthew Macklin (28-2, 19 KO’s) has reportedly been looking very good in training camp for his June 25th fight against WBA Super World middleweight champion Felix Sturm (35-2-1, 15 KO’s) for their title clash at the Lanxess- Arena in Cologne, Germany. If there was ever a time for the 29-year-old Macklin to beat the 32-year-old Sturm it’s right now with Sturm starting to show a little age a little rust from not a lot of recent activity.

However, Macklin is going to have to try and find a way past Sturm’s excellent jab because Sturm still has that weapon working for him very well in in recent fights. Macklin doesn’t have a similar weapon to use on the outside and will have to try and get in close to land his combinations before Sturm makes a mess of his face.

Macklin has the skills to win, but is lacking badly in experience against world class opposition. That might not be such a bad thing because it means that Macklin hasn’t had to take the kind of punishment that a lot of fighters typically have absorbed by the time they’re 29. But by the same token Sturm hasn’t faced a lot of high quality opposition either during his five years as the WBA middleweight champion. He’s been very carefully matched pretty much the whole way and kept away from dangerous guys like Arthur Abraham, Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor. But none the less, Macklin is the fresher of the two. But he’s got to go after Sturm and not let him dominate on the outside otherwise this is going to be ugly.

To beat Sturm, Macklin has got to fight better than he did in his last bout against Ruben Varon. Macklin barely beat Varon by a close 12 round decision. Granted, Varon is a top contender but Macklin looked little better than him.