By Jody Moylan – The Birmingham born Irish middleweight Matthew Macklin went the full ten rounds in disposing of Uruguayan Rafael Sosa Pintos in Dublin’s National Stadium on Saturday night.
Macklin said in the post-fight press conference that part of a boxer’s lot was to expect and accept the bumps and bruises doled out by the likes of the bullish South American. Pintos in turn received a pummeling from the European middleweight champion and after being floored in the second by a ferocious body shot followed by a quick left hook to the forehead it looked like the contest would end prematurely..
The ex-Uruguayan light middleweight champion is made of sterner stuff however and resolved to stay the distance no matter what punishment was being dished out by an upward moving Macklin.
And punishment he received, seeing the canvas again in the fifth from another grueling right from the ex-Tipperary hurler. Macklin was commanding all the early rounds and probably would have finished off the bout but for bruising picked up to both hands almost at the outset. Only in the sixth did Pintos open up from the belligerent defensive strategy his blue corner had applied and it was here that the Uruguayan caught Macklin with a sweet combination and two proper body shots.
The European champion fought off any warning signs from thereon in and in the ninth Pintos fell again at the Irishman’s hands. Referee Emile Tiedt waved away the Uruguayan’s protestations that Macklin’s body shot was low. It suckered Pintos and the final bell sounded a comfortable 99-88 points victory for the Irish corner.
Speaking after a 26th win from 28 (18 Kos), Macklin, who is promoted by Ricky Hatton, acknowledged the tough examination from the South American.
“He [Pintos] had a very tight defence and kept the chin on the chest and I was catching his forehead a little bit, catching his elbows a little bit when I was jabbing to the body but you get bumps and bruises – this is not a tickling contest,” stated Macklin.
“It [hand injuries] probably took away about 10 or 15 per cent of my power because, obviously, it was niggling me a little bit but I thought I controlled the fight, boxed well, won every round, dropped him a couple of times. Certainly it was a more convincing win than Anthony Mundine or Koren Gevor managed against him and they are top five or top six in the world.
“There’s fights I’ve had that have been harder than that but they have been a bit more offensive minded so you get more openings where Rafael was more defensive so it was hard to get the clean punches through.”
With a mandatory European title defence scheduled for February 19th against Russian Dmitry Pirog, Macklin and his corner were probably glad this bout went the distance; the title holder having won his two previous fights in ‘09 in less than 10 minutes combined.
However the injuries picked up to both hands as well as a cut over Macklin’s left eye will almost certainly see that mandatory defence put back now.
“The cut is not too bad – maybe two or three stitches. But I would think a February fight is unlikely now. It’s going to take six to eight weeks for the cut. I’ll have to wait for the swelling in my hands to go down.”