Macklin wants a raucous Garden
- Last Updated: 1:40 AM, March 17, 2012
- Posted: 1:40 AM, March 17, 2012
Matthew Macklin will need the luck of the Irish tonight when he takes on linear middleweight champion Sergio Martinez in the main event of a boxing card at the Madison Square Garden Theater. The bout, scheduled for 12 rounds, will be televised live on HBO.
Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KOs) of Argentina has predicted a knockout, though Macklin has been stopped just once in his career.
“I know I will win by knockout,” he told reporters. “The fight will definitely not pass the 10th round.”
It may not be as easy a fight as Martinez thinks. Macklin (28-3, 19 KOs) lost a split decision to Felix Sturm last June in Germany. It was a fight many thought Macklin won. An English-born Irishman, Macklin wants to make it a rugged battle that will wear down Martinez in the later rounds. Macklin also figures he will have the support of a pro-Irish crowd on St. Patrick’s Day.
“Every time I hit him, the roof will come off,” Macklin said. “To have that crowd behind you, especially when it gets grueling in the late rounds, it makes you fight harder. I want to make it that kind of fight.”
Martinez weighed in yesterday at a ready 157 1/2 pounds. Macklin carried 158.
In another featured bout, super middleweight Edwin Rodriguez (20-0, 14 KOs) of Worcester, Mass., faces Donovan George (22-1-1, 19 KOs) of Chicago in a scheduled 10-rounder.
* The scheduled fight between former lightweight champion Brandon Rios and featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa on April 14 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas has been canceled. The fight began to unravel when Gamboa failed to attend promotional press conferences in Miami and Los Angeles.
HBO was scheduled to televise the bout, but decided to pull its coverage after Gamboa backed out and a suitable replacement could not be found. Top Rank, Gamboa’s promoter, quickly filed a breach of contract suit against the fighter.
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