Macklin v Martinez: How do you see it?

coming up this weekend, looking forward to it.

Macklin put on a stirling performance last time out against Sturm and in many peopels eyes, should have been given the decision. Barker made Martinez struggle at times before he was stopped late and it was the first time we hadn't seen Martinez look really good in a few fights.

So, Macklins chances.

Firstly. let's note that Martinez is very old at 37, and although a superb athlete, could decline at any time. Also he did not seem himself v Barker.

But regardless of this, i see a Martinez KO in the second half as most likely result. Macklin will pressure and fire far more than Barker, and may rack up some early rounds. Martinez did struggle in his youth with Margcheato when he did the same. But inevitable I think Macklin will ship too much punishment on his way in to sustain, remember he looked out on his feet at the end of Sturm. Macklinmay change tact, but to what? He isn't as slick as Barker - so don't expect him to og the same route as he.

I see this a bit like Floyd v Hatton, diluted a little on both sides. One fighter coming forward to pressure and punish, the other looking to pick him off on his way in.

Think Matt will have success but whenever I have seen him he has never been too hard to hit, admire Martinez but I am yet to be convinced he is quite as good as his p4p status would suggest, think to a degree he is right guy right time because a lot of the guys who looked like stars of the future have flattered to deceive and the guys who have been staples of p4p lists for some time have got old.

Also his age cannot be ignored, whilst I appreciate he started late he is not spring chicken and as you say he did look a bit out of sorts against Barker, guess the smart pick is for Martinez to stop Matt as he tires late on but have to say a shock would not surprise me greatly in this if Matt can improve either his stamina or pacing.

Barker fought very very defensively vs Martinez, barely threw any open touches and only threw jabs. Martinez likes his opponents to come to him so he can land his bombs. Macklin will do this, and play into Martinez hands.

Macklin doesn't move his head much while Martinez shows a lot of lateral movement. Sturm is a very european fighter, straight up, one dimensional, good jab, robotic, powerful and ultimately successful. Martinez will hit and move with his superior hand speed and foot speed. He has a long reach for his height and wicked power. The best chance to beat sergio is to outbox him on the back foot, something Macklin doesn't do

TKO round 8 at most unless he changes style or Sergio becomes old overnight

I see a very exciting fight whilst it lasts. Matt will be attacking and will make Sergio uncomfortable. But as soon as Sergio established the jab and straight lefts, the writing will be on the wall.

Sergio KO 8.

Macklin will attack with a high work rate, Sergio to figure him out around the middle rounds and win by KO.

Never been convinced by Macklin I'm afraid, as Jeff mentioned in his piece earlier he is far too easy to hit.

I imagine Matthews sheer determination and grit will make him competitive for an initial period, but it's something Martinez hasn't seen before and I can see Matthew going out on his shield possibly retired by his corner.

Seems a lovely kid and Wish the lad nothing but good luck, but think it will take someone a little cuter than Matthew to better the champion on this occasion.

I reckon Macklin will make a better fight of it than Barker did. But I think Martinez will just be to quick and to skilful for him. All Macklin can do is go after Martinez like he did Sturnm and hope he doesn't have enough in the tank. I don't see it though. I reckon Martinez will stop him around 8/9 rounds.

Barker made his fight with Martinez a snorefest like all his fights are.

Macklin will more grit and balls to the table than Barker could ever dream of.

That being said, he won't bring enough to win the fight but will enhance his name in the process by giving the public their moneys worth in a good old fashion slugfest I think.

Sergio KO rounds 10-12.

I think we're being a little unfair on Barker here.

He was an undefeated middleweight going in to the Martinez fight having boxed around Euro level, he finally took his shot at world level and fell short. I find him to be a technically gifted boxer, but he'll always get found out at world level as he's not got the power to change fights like the top middleweight operators have.

Macklin doesn't have his skill but does have more power and grit than Barker. He'll fight through 1 - 6 on equal footing but will trail off as Martinez hits hard and hits clever and will likely slow and get KO'd around 6 - 7. I've got a cheeky bet on Martinez TKO in the 7th.

I like everyone else am not going for a shock win, must also say that Martinez had a little problem stylistically with Barker but he also injured his left arm, if you see how little he throws the left you can tell he isn't lying, plus he seems to be one of the most respectable and honest boxers in years, so I for one believe him.

Gotta go with the Argentinian here though, too fast and powerful it will take intelligent pressure and almost for Macklin to "mug him off" in the way Hatton was doing to Floyd early in their fight. Don't see Macklin applying intelligent pressure however and past 5 will be shipping a few too many my guess is that part way through the 2nd half Macklin will be exhausted and will take 1 too many and drops.

Probably makes sense Alex, since he KO'ed Barker with his right hand.

Plus he caught Barker on the gloves with a right handed punch and Barrker rolled about on the ground like a drunk before getting up to cry like a sissy

Was a bit of an odd KO, there didn't look to be all that much contact, but I guess its the one you don't see coming that...

Nah Alex, I don't buy it. As much as he seems like a nice guy I think he took the easy way out.

He was getting caught with lots of heavy shots and his defense was all over the place with still about a round and a half to go.

Just how I seen it though. Would have been better to plumet to the floor and get counted out rather than take a 4 minute plus hiding with a guaranteed loss on the scorecards rather than quit like Ortiz did.

If he did then it was very good acting because he was wobbling everywhere and he genuinely looked shaken.

Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn wrote:Nah Alex, I don't buy it. As much as he seems like a nice guy I think he took the easy way out.

He was getting caught with lots of heavy shots and his defense was all over the place with still about a round and a half to go.

Just how I seen it though. Would have been better to plumet to the floor and get counted out rather than take a 4 minute plus hiding with a guaranteed loss on the scorecards rather than quit like Ortiz did.

Barker sustained a perforated ear drum as a result of one of the punches - hardly taking the easy way out.

And your point is??

Carl Froch beat Pascal with a perforated eardrum and didn't roll around on the ground.

Abraham beat Edison Miranda with a face stuffed with cotton wool due to a broken jaw.

David Haye broke his hand bla bla bla.

Boxers get injured....most will battle on.

Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn wrote:And your point is??

Carl Froch beat Pascal with a perforated eardrum and didn't roll around on the ground.

Abraham beat Edison Miranda with a face stuffed with cotton wool due to a broken jaw.

David Haye broke his hand bla bla bla.

Boxers get injured....most will battle on.

And his toe... hahaha

Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn wrote:And your point is??

Carl Froch beat Pascal with a perforated eardrum and didn't roll around on the ground.

Abraham beat Edison Miranda with a face stuffed with cotton wool due to a broken jaw.

David Haye broke his hand bla bla bla.

Boxers get injured....most will battle on.

My point is that he didn't "take the easy way out", all very well for you to make that comment from the comfort of your laptop

Well it was a lot easier than getting back up for 4 more minutes against an elite fighter.

Easy way out - Stay down

Hard way out - Get back up.

And what do you mean!!! I would like totally knock Martinez out with 7 punches that my karate teacher taught me because im a black belt at karate

Ha ha - fair play - I've a black belt in origami myself

The thing with a perforated eardrum that it affects the equilibrium, so perhaps can vary from one person to another. Having suffered this after a long haul flight I can sympathise, although it's not incredibly painful it can be very disorientating.

I really cant see an upset on the cards here. I watched back the Macklin/Sturm fight recently with a view to considering Macklins chances in this one. To be fair, I actually scored the fight to Macklin at the second time of watching. I think he basically outworked Sturm. So that performance I think will give Macklin alot of encouragement. Then, he will have seen his domestic rival Barker give Martinez a fight which was probably one of Martinez least impressive performances in recent years. So I think this will be a hungry an confient Macklin.

The problem is, Martinez is not Sturm. And having watched Sturm again struggle with Murray I was left feeling more that it was a case of Sturm slipping a notch or two down towards the level of Murray/Macklin as much as these guys announcing themselves on the world level. Sturm was very poor in both these fights and too content merely to stand right in front of Murray/Macklin and try and nick rounds with the odd eye catching burst whilst soaking up his opponents shots.

Macklin is quite predictable, you know he will be out hunting Martinez early on, trying to get close to work the body and standing right in front of Martinez. Early on he may have some success with this as Martinez looks to find his rythm. But once he does (maybe a few rounds in) I think Martinez will just be too sophisticated for Macklin and Macklins style will just be too open. Macklin did well against Sturm because Sturm just stood in front of him. Martinez will be alot more complicted. Far more movement, more more subtle, far harder target to try and out work. I also think Macklins predictability, lack of angles and desire to get close will see him stumble into some of the traps, ambushes and counters Martinez is likely to set up and with Martinez being the biggest puncher I think Macklin has faced I think this spells trouble.

Barker actually did alright by adopting a more measured approach and being a bit more tentative against Martinez. Cant see Macklin doing this. I think he might possibly find success early and his best chance of winning is really to just smother the work of Martinez and out hustle him. But I think Martinez will have too much class and sooner or later dispatch the more one dimensional Macklin.

Yea I got hit on the side of the head with a snowball before and it burst my ear drum, but I'm a keyboard warrior so i just shook my head a little and carried on with the snowball fight, which I won btw.

Nah seriously it was pretty rough. I do think Barker deserved his shot, but I also think he felt it was the right thing to do (staying down) but was disappointed in doing so judging by his post fight interview. I think he was prob better of doing so as Martinez was starting to take him apart anyway.

I think Martinez is over-rated personally but that being said he still should KO Macklin rounds 8-12

Martinez predicted a knockout, which makes me believe he has Macklins number. Martinez doesn't usually predict ko's

i see this fight exactly as manos does... hope i'm wrong though, like macklin and he's sure to give it a go.

Barker i felt, just didn;t have the stamina to keep to his game plan... i thought it was more his lack of output and movement as he faded, than martinez figuring him out.

I don't blame barker for the ko, it was a strange one as it was a pretty innoculous looking punch... but he was clearly in a lot of pain from it... normlly when guys go down from head shots they're in no pain, because they don't know whats happended!

Barker said he perforated his ear drum in the round before the knock down and that looks about right because his balance was poor in the last round before the KO.

I think Macklin could be made for Martinez. Martinez is quite slick and hard to pin down and all Macklin can do is come forward and hope to draw Martinez into an ugly fight. If Martinez wants to be considered up there with the likes of Manny and Floyd he needs to deal with Macklin pretty comfortably because Macklin is pretty average.

I'd go for a late stoppage and I don't see Macklin winning many rounds but he will go out on his shield.

Barker said the hardest element of Martinez game to deal with was his speed. Unless Martinez loses that overnight he will win this easily.

Macklin's got heart but it to easy to hit.
Martinez by mid/late TKO.

Macklin's got heart but is to easy to hit.
Martinez by mid/late TKO.

I see this fight as being the classic example of styles making fights, and Macklins style is made for Martinez,
Funnily enough I'd give Strum a real chance against Martinez, as he is a much more technically gifted straight up european styled boxer working off an excellent jab.
If Mackin had a good jab, he would be a little more protected in his charges to get inside, but I can't see him having picked up a cultured jab in the duration of his training camp.
I see him having some window dressing success early on, where his size advantage will serve him, but cleaner work and more importantly more substantial damage being inflicted by Martinez, This will tell it's toll in later rounds, Heart passion and doggedness, fuelled from a raucous crowd will make this fight a barnstormer, but Matt will be beaten out of gas, to KO'd 10-12.

Would love to be proven wrong.

Martinez @ 1/10
Macklin @ 11/2
Draw @ 33/1


Wouldnt mind a cheeky bet on a draw.

Think it will be a close affair until later rounds where i see Macklin getting stopped.

Martinez in the 7th.

Nailed on.

£10 bet means £130 back.

A a draw at those odds must be worth a fiver, hell i've thrown enough away on cheltenham. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that Macklin could pull out a Williams 1 esque fight.
Having every punch roared on will make impartiality from the judges difficult.

8/11 Martinez Stoppage r8-12 or pts. Also 8/11 Martinez KO/TKO r1-12. Which to go for (assuming Martinez win)? Suppose it depends on confidence Macklin getting through 1st 7 rounds.

I actually have this funny feeling that Macklin will actually win. Everything points to Martinez in this fight, but there's something about this fight that makes me think Macklin will win. I don't know why, just think he'll beat him.

My worry for the Irish blood is the fact he won't pressure Martinez enough..Barker was in the fight but didn't press Martinez enough to really test him..

Macklin should provide a sterner test but not sure after taking one or two big pot shots early his work rate will be hot enough..

Martinez by decision........

wouldnt surprise me if martinez took him out fairly early. martinez is still improving, and macklin is not as good a pressure fighter as paul williams is. i think martinez will time him pretty early on and macklin could take big shots from the start