It looks like middleweight Matthew Macklin (29-4, 20 KOs) is about to fight one of the most avoided boxers in the world in the form of WBA champion Gennady Golovkin (26-0, 23 KOs). As the Irish Voice went to press on Tuesday nothing official had been announced, but it is likely that the pair will fight on June 29 on the East Coast.
The Irish Voice could not reach Macklin before press time, and both Tomas Rohan from Brian Peters Promotions and promoter Lou DiBella were unable to discuss details of the fight.
DiBella, however, did give this official comment: "I am working towards finalizing Golovkin and Macklin and will officially be announcing the fight later this week. This is simply one of the best and most significant fights to be made in the middleweight division right now.”
If the fight proceeds, it will be the 30-year-old Irishman from Birmingham’s third tilt at a world title.
In June 2011, he lost a very contentious decision to then IBF champion Felix Sturm in Cologne.
Macklin’s impressive performance earned him a title shot against WBC champ Sergio Martinez on St. Patrick’s Day 2012. Macklin had Martinez down in the seventh round and pushed him hard before retiring after the eleventh stanza.
Macklin was last in action on September 15 when he discarded former junior middleweight champion Joachim Alcine with a clinical first round stoppage.
Golovkin is a hard-hitting German-based Kazak who has decimated all recent opposition put in front of him. The 31-year-old has not gone the distance in a fight since 2008 and says he will fight anyone in the junior middleweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions.
When the Irish Voice spoke to Rohan of Brian Peters Promotions a few weeks back, he said the ideal situation would be for Macklin to get some competitive rounds in before talking on one the big guns in the division (he has fought less than one round since March 2012).
Macklin, who is trained by Buddy McGirt, had a nine-month break before his fight with Martinez and his team admitted afterwards that that was a long time out of the ring before a fight of that magnitude.
It now seems that Macklin may have decided to forego the tune-up to fight arguably the biggest gun in the middleweight ranks outside Martinez. The official announcement is expected at the end of the week.
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