Paul Wheeler – “Matthew’s a great kid and could go a long way in America” Trainer Freddie Roach’s words on yet another British fighter that is working under the tutorledge of Roach.
Matthew Macklin (28-2, 18KO’s), an Irish middleweight based in England is still searching for his next opponent. Winky Wright and Sergio Mora are just two names that have been thrown into the mix, which leave us in no doubt how highly Roach regards his 28 year old pupil.
Macklin is a former European Middleweight Champion, a belt he won in considerable style last September by taking out Finnish fighter, Amin Asikainen (27-3,18KO’s) in the very first round of the bout. Since then Macklin has fought just once (December 2009) against tough Uraguayan, Rafel Sosa Pintos where he won a ten round UD.
A planned defence of his European Crown was set for April 2010 against the unbeaten Russian, Dmitry Pirog (16-0, 13KO’s) but an injury forced Pirog to pull out of the bout. A replacement opponent was organised when Macklin himself had to withdraw from the fight due to a nose injury picked up in training. Subsequently Macklin gave up the belt he never got to defend to concentrate on the World Scene..
So after a 6 month layoff where does Macklin go from here? There are several domestic tear ups that would be great for the British public but would do little to enhance Macklin’s World Title Adventure. Kelly Pavlik coming off his loss to Sergio Martinez could offer Macklin the chance to prove that he is a World Class operator. This is the type of fight that Macklin has been craving for the past couple of years and win over Pavlik would be the key that opens the door to the Middleweight Kings. Pavlik needs a win over a top ten opponent to put himself back into Title contention and could see Macklin as a credible but “easy” option. It would be a huge mistake to underestimate the Irish bomber.
A fight with Winky Wright would prove to be a hard nights work even with Wright being 11 years Macklin’s senior. A loss against Wright would surely dent Macklin’s aspirations as an elite fighter, where as a competitive loss to the likes of Pavlik would more than likely see Macklin stay in the Top 10 Middleweight mix. Freddie Roach would also know that a win over Pavlik outweighs the benefits of a win over the ageing Wright by a considerable margin.
It’s a cross roads moment for Macklin and if chosen correctly Freddie Roach could well just have yet another British World Champion on his hands.