Tag Archives: Matthew Macklin

Posted on 05/06/2022

by John “Gutterdandy” Walker

Former heavyweight champions of the world the Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and Vitali, won’t be cheering on WBA light heavyweight champion Dimitry Bivol when the latter man takes on superstar Canelo Alvarez this Saturday evening at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Though Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs), a Russian, has spoken out against the war his country has chosen to wage against neighboring Ukraine, the Ukrainian Klitschko brothers are far from satisfied about Bivol is getting a world wide platform to perform against Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) in the middle of a bloody conflict that his country started.

According to former unified world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, currently fighting on the front lines with his brother [the current mayor of Kyiv] Vitali, it’s nothing personal against Bivol, but a matter of principle.

In an interview with the BBC, Wladimir recently opined that “[Bivol should] absolutely not [be facing Canelo]. Every sanction, and it’s nothing against the personality or athletes, it’s about the politics of Russia.”

“Every Russian representative in this case needs to be sanctioned, because this way we show to Russia that the world is against this senseless war and that there’s no good in this war,” Klitschko said.

Bivol, of course, sees the issue differently, and claims the realms of sports and politics should be kept separate.

“All his career I support [Wladimir], I liked how he was fighting and of course I was glad when he won,” said a somber Bivol.

“He is [a] sportsman, he should know sports and politics is different. He was [an] athlete. Now he is politician. It is sad that wants to shake it up and mix sport and politics,” a downcast Bivol told Britain’s IFL TV.

While the Klitschkos won’t be making a Vegas trip to see Bivol defend his title against Alvarez, one face to look for at ringside is that of current “retired” WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

Last weekend, Matchroom promotions honcho Eddie Hearn put on a successful women’s boxing headliner featuring popular Irish fighter Katie Taylor at Madison Square Garden in NYC.

Irish compatriots such as former pugilist Matthew “Mack The Knife” Macklin, and according to rumor, Tyson Fury himself were slated to fly to Manhattan to cheer on their woman, but Mackin and “other boxing figures” were refused entry into the USA due to their connections with former MGM/MTK honcho and reputed Irish mob kingpin, Daniel Kinahan (“MTK” is an acronym for Mack The Knife).

Fury, rumor has it, was tipped off not to get on the plane to Manhattan. The WBC champion, who recently made light work of hapless challenger Dillian Whyte, was very friendly with Kinahan until the FBI offered a $5 million reward for the mob boss, at which point an agitated Fury was adamant that he knew nothing of Kinahan’s business and split ties with him.

If Fury, who recently bought a home in the Las Vegas area, and who is due to meet with the WBC next week to discuss his retirement plans–which he claims are 100% irreversible–fails to show at the Canelo vs Bivol tilt, the rumor mill over Fury’s own legal status regarding Kinahan and the now-defunct MTK Global promotional outfit will surely go into overdrive.

Posted on 03/15/2012

By: William Holmes

On Saturday, HBO will broadcast a world championship bout in the middleweight division between division kingpin Sergio “Maravilla’ Martinez and challenger Matthew “Mack the Knife” Macklin. While Macklin may not be the big name that Martinez previously desired, the did choose an opponent that will likely bring in a large amount of fans to Madison Square Garden, since Saturday is St. Patrick’s Day and Macklin is a Brit of Irish extraction.

If Martinez can be impressive in victory, it should help his goal of landing a big money fight against either Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. Martinez has also openly lobbied for a fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., but that appears highly unlikely to ever happen. If Martinez is unimpressive, or even suffers an unlikely upset, he’ll likely toil against another little-known opponent in the middleweight division.

Martinez (l) and Macklin ready to rumble

The following is a preview of both the middleweight championship fight, and the televised bout of Edwin Rodriguez and Donovan George.

Edwin Rodriguez (20-0) vs. Donovan George (22-1-1); Super Middleweight

The opening bout of Saturday night is a bout in the Super Middleweight division between two fighters trying to make a name for themselves with the exposure that is granted by being placed on HBO. Edwin Rodriguez is a professional boxer with deep amateur experience. He had a record of 84-9 as an amateur, and was a national Golden Gloves champion in 2006. He’s a Dominican-American boxer and is just starting to enter his prime at the age of 26. He’s the same height as his opponent Donovan George, but he has a six-inch read advantage that he should be able to take advantage of. Of Rodriguez’s 20 victories, 14 have come by KO or TKO.

Rodriguez has faced some quality competition so far in his career, including Aaron Pryor Jr. and James McGirt, two fighters who come from deep boxing families. All of Rodriguez’s opponents have had a winning record since his sixth professional fight. He’s never seemed to be in any danger of losing in any of his fights, and his closest victory to date was over Pryor, which he won with scores of 96-93, 98-91, and 97-92. His last TKO or KO victory was four fights ago against McGirt in November of 2010.

Donovan George will be facing off against Edwin Rodriguez on Saturday. He hasn’t faced the quality of opposition that Rodriguez has, and doesn’t have his deep amateur background, either. He does appear to have the ability to knock Rodriguez out if the latter man is not careful, as 19 of his victories have come by KO or TKO. He lost to Francisco Sierra in July of 2010 by decision, and his biggest victory to date was to be the first person to give Cornelius White a loss on his record in February of 2011. Inactivity may be a problem for George, as he has not fought since April 1st of 2011.

Rodriguez should win this fight, and win easily. He has to be wary of the power of George, but his amateur background and technical boxing ability should help him cruise to an eventual decision. The recent Super Six tournament gave a lot of exposure to the Super Middleweight division, and a win for Rodriguez should land him a fight with a more well-known opponent.

Sergio Martinez (48-2-2) vs. Matthew Macklin (28-3); Ring Middleweight Championship

You’re not going to find any boxing writers who don’t consider Sergio Martinez to be a top five ranked pound for pound fighter. He’s a late bloomer to the sport, is the current Ring middleweight champion, and the WBC Diamond Middleweight champion. There’s also a WBC “regular” champion, Julio Caesar Chavez Jr., — allegedly you can have two champions in the same division from the same sanctioning body.

Regardless, Martinez is a monster, and is undeniably the best middleweight boxer today. He was previously a super welterweight champion, and first fought in the middleweight division against Paul Williams in December of 2009. He lost that bout on the scorecards, though many observers felt Martinez should have been given the nod. He bounced back from that defeat and took the WBC, WBO, and Ring middleweight title from Kelly Pavlik in 2010, and in a rematch, blasted Williams with a brutal 2nd round KO in November of 2010. He won his last two bouts against undefeated fighters Serhiy Dzinziruk and Darren Barker by KO, but he struggled at times against Barker and looked all too human.

Martinez is 37, and father time catches up with us all: that last bout may be a sign that Martinez is starting to decline.

Martinez has fought every big name that has become available to him. His first professional loss was against Antonio Margarito, before the hand wrap scandal came to light. Since then he’s fought Pavlik, Williams (twice), Cintron, Dzinziruk, and Barker. Nobody can claim Martinez is ducking opposition.

Macklin is an opponent that Martinez should have no problems with, and is a fighter that has been given a title shot opportunity despite the fact he lost his previous title shot against Felix Sturm. It was a close split decision, but many observers felt Macklin won–even the German television station that broadcast the fight. Macklin last loss before Sturm was in 2006 to Jamie Moore, and his first loss was in 2003. He has been on a tear since 2006, but Martinez will be by far the toughest opposition that Macklin has ever faced. Macklin has made his career by fighting in Europe, and has only fought in the United States once in 2005.

Martinez has 27 KO or TKO to his record, and Macklin has 19, so neither fighter appears to have a definitive edge in power. Martinez is clearly the boxer with the superior hand speed and technical ability, and has fought the tougher competition.

Martinez should win, and win easily. The bigger question is: will Martinez be able to stop Macklin?