When Irish Eyes Are Swelling

March 17, 2012- Middleweight sensation Sergio Martinez overcame the jeers of a raucous Madison Square Garden crowd and the will of an unrelenting opponent on Saturday night to record an 11^th round TKO over a very game challenger, Irishman Matthew Macklin.  Martinez began the fight in his usual fashion, utilizing his superior hand speed to score from the outside and relying on his quick reflexes to extract himself from danger.  However, Macklin managed to close the distance through the middle rounds, finding some success through pressure and the use of his straight right hand, and at the halfway point it was becoming more and more evident that Martinez was in for an uncharacteristic night of competition.

In round two, Martinez caught Macklin with a counter left, which caused the crowd favorite to fall awkwardly into the ropes, giving the champion the round and a two point lead through the first two frames.  In rounds three and four, however, Macklin countered well, and timed Martinez coming in, taking advantage of the Argentinean’s “hands down” style and pulling even on Harold Lederman’s unofficial card through four.  By round six, Martinez’s one and done style, or rather his lack of combination punching, was emboldening Macklin to come forward and take some chances, and in round seven, Macklin managed to land a right hook that forced Martinez off balance and forced his glove onto the canvas.  While the knockdown technically occurred from a punch and referee Eddie Cotton was correct in his assessment, the replay showed that Macklin had his leg behind Martinez’s when the punch was thrown, which caused Martinez to stagger backwards off balance.  In any event, a two point round made things quite a bit more interesting down the stretch, and Martinez, a 10-1 favorite coming into the fight, was forced to make some adjustments and fight at a more spirited pace.

By rounds eight, nine and ten, Martinez began to pick up the pace even more, scoring well with his jab and straight left hand, and Macklin’s attack, in turn, seemed to slow a bit from fatigue as well as the development of swelling and cuts over both eyes.  Macklin fought on bravely however, and going into round number eleven, he was trailing by only one point on two judges’ cards (95-94) and was actually leading on the third by a three point margin, 96-93.

In the eleventh round, however, Martinez’s elite standing was restored as he dropped his challenger with a beautifully timed straight left that found its mark directly on Macklin’s chin.  Macklin caught the brunt of the blow and ended up flat on his back with his head coming to rest near the bottom ring rope.  After rising to his feet and taking the mandatory count, Macklin was virtually powerless to prevent another knockdown from taking place as he ended up on the canvas for a second time, right at the very end of the round.  Macklin arose once again and made it through to the bell, however, trainer Buddy McGirt decided, upon further review of his battered fighter, to call an immediate halt to the action.

So despite a losing effort, Matthew Macklin fought his heart out and earned praise in defeat for his willingness to take chances and fight even for ten rounds with one of the world’s best fighters.  After the fight when asked about the difficulties posed by Macklin Martinez responded, “He didn’t attack like I expected, and he wasn’t open with his defense.”  In other words, he countered the counter puncher instead of coming in reckless and his defense was not completely terrible.  Unfortunately, despite throwing more punches (461 to 437), Macklin was out-landed 183 to 135 and was on the receiving end of 109 power shots.  With the victory, Martinez improved to 49-2-2 with 28 knockouts, while Macklin, suffering his second straight defeat, fell to 28-4 with 19 KO’s.

In summation, Sergio Martinez found himself in with a motivated opponent tonight that was able to find success scoring against his unorthodox style.  He proved that he prefers to box to win but he will fight if necessary, and he appeared to hold command over much of the fight, dictating the pace and getting off first the majority of the time.  Perhaps it was some vague notion of ring generalship, or the tendency to give close rounds to the champion/and or the fighter with the better reputation, but I had Martinez up seven rounds to three going into the final frame.  I wouldn’t say it was his best performance, and it clearly showed that a fighter, who counters and defends well, can have success against him, but I cannot justify any scenario in which he should have been trailing by three points.

In the end, it seems as if Macklin won his share of the battles, Martinez won the war, and Floyd Mayweather, if he chooses to accept an 80/20 split proposal from Martinez, may come out as the biggest winner of all.

Also on the nights’ undercard, super middleweight Edwin Rodriguez extended his 21 fight winning streak with a skillful unanimous decision victory over Chicago native Don “Da Bomb” George.  Rodriguez controlled the distance with his jab and remained the busier of the two over the course of the ten rounds, walking away with a convincing 96-94, 99-91, 97-93 victory on the scorecards.  While George closed the distance and had his moments in some of the middle rounds, Rodriguez remained the  sharper, busier, and more accurate of the two, out-throwing his adversary 718 to 560 and out-landing him 215 to 156.  With the win, Edwin Rodriguez improved to 21-0 with 14 knockouts, justifying some “upward mobility” in the rankings for himself, while Don George fell to 22-2-1 with 19 KO’s.