Martinez gets up off the canvas to stop Macklin

By Allan Fox: Former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez showed huge heart in getting up from a 7th round knockdown and then come back and drop Matthew Macklin twice in the 11th to get a stoppage on Saturday night at the Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. There weren’t any titles at stake in this fight, aside from the 37-year-old Martinez’s WBC Diamond strap. Macklin really made it a tough fight for Martinez by really putting a lot of pressure on him all fight long and landing some good shots.

Martinez seemed to struggle more against his last opponent Darren Barker in terms of having problems with his boxing skills, but Macklin was tough due to his power and pressure. He really forced Martinez to fight harder than he wanted to in this fight. Macklin knocked Martinez down in the 7th round with a nice right hand. It was a shot that caused Martinez’s glove to touch the canvas, but he wasn’t hurt by the punch. But Martinez made it a point from then on to hit Macklin with maximum power and you see immediately how much harder Martinez was throwing starting in the 8th round. Macklin seemed to know things had changed, as he was no longer looking as aggressive.

Late in the 11th round, Martinez finally was able to put Macklin on the deck, knocking him down twice with beautiful left hands to the head that Macklin badly hurt. It was good for him that the round ended before Martinez could really put a hurting on him, because Macklin likely would have gotten seriously hurt if Martinez was able to tee off for much longer. I envisioned a one punch knockout if Macklin had come out for the 12th round. However, Macklin’s trainer Buddy McGirt decided not to allow the still groggy Macklin to come out for the 12th and instead opted to have his fighter saved from taking any more big left hands from Martinez by letting the referee know that Macklin wouldn’t be coming out for the 12th.