Boxing:Matthew Macklin hopes to complete a remarkable story tomorrow night by dethroning middleweight king Sergio Martinez in front of thousands of Irish Americans on St Patrick's Day at Madison Square Garden in New York. Born in Birmingham to Irish parents, Macklin grew spent summers in Tipperary where he became an accomplished hurling player in his teens.
He gave up hurling at 16 when injury threatened his amateur boxing career and made an even greater sacrifice three years later when he dropped out of a law degree to focus on fighting.
The former ABA champion has had to tread a complicated path to the top, however, with multiple trainers, regular management changes and three professional defeats all featuring prominently on his career arc.
Yet after joining forces with New York promoter Lou DiBella, he has secured himself a “fairytale” opportunity to become the linear, recognised world middleweight champion by dethroning superb Argentinian Martinez. To do so he must beat the man widely regarded as the third best fighter in the world, behind pound-for-pound kings Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Should he upset the veteran Martinez, Macklin believes he will have justified some of the tough decisions he has made over the years. “I had to make sacrifices when I was younger, not least packing in university to focus on the boxing,” said the 29-year-old.
“I knew I could always go back to that so it was not that hard a decision. But I’ve always felt that if I got to this stage, and managed to win a world title, it would fully vindicate my choice. But generally it’s been a long, hard road at times for me, but it will all be worth it when I beat Martinez.”
While Macklin (28-3, 19KOs) is given short shrift by bookmakers — some of whom have him a 15/2 underdog — he should be well backed at the famous Madison Square Garden venue, where the Irish community are expected to come out in force on St Patrick’s Day.
One of Macklin’s three career defeats was a highly-disputed split decision against WBA champion Felix Sturm in Germany last summer. “I was very disappointed not to get the decision against Sturm but this is the silver lining,” Macklin said.
“Everyone in America saw that and they were way more outraged than we were in England or Ireland. Maybe it was because they love the aggression side of boxing, which I showed, and so most in America barely had Sturm even winning three rounds. Everyone thought I won it, but over here they felt I really dominated him completely.
“It was good to get rewarded with this fight because being at Madison Square Garden, on St Patrick’s Day, against Martinez, on (American pay-per-view giant) HBO, it ticks all the boxes. It’s like a fairytale.”
Martinez (48-2-2, 27KOs) has apparently shunned the ‘alphabet’ world titles but holds the Ring middleweight belt and is regarded as the top man in the division. The 37-year-old had a tricky night against Darren Barker last year before stopping him in the 11th and he will hope Macklin’s more aggressive style will play into his hands tomorrow.
Despite worldwide respect for his talents, Martinez’s name has rarely got the billing it deserves, so he is relishing tomorrow’s high-profile clash at one of boxing’s great venues. “It’s a great, great honour to fight at Madison Square Garden and a lifetime dream,” he admitted. “It makes me quite emotional.”