- Matthew Macklin lands one on the champ.
The big fight on St. Patrick's Day couldn't have gone any better for the 10-1 Irish underdog after eight stanzas last Saturday. Tipperary's Matthew Macklin had scored a knockdown and with four rounds to go led world middleweight champ Sergio Martinez on points at Madison Square Garden.
At that juncture, the 29 year-old challenger was doing what he'd told the Echo he'd do: make the aging champion, 37, work and fight every three minutes.
Teddy Atlas had foreseen that, too. "Because of his youth and confidence, Macklin will be competitive enough," the ace trainer and ESPN analyst with Cavan roots, predicted last week.
But Atlas had also expected Martinez, "a little better technically and a little sharper," to pull away late in the fight and win.
Rankled by the knockdown in the seventh round when a Macklin left hook their entangled feet forced his right glove to touch the canvas, the Argentine [49-2-2, 28 KOs], would do just that. He dialed it up a notch, systematically breaking Macklin down in the eighth, ninth and tenth rounds with his sharp punching. Then he closed the 11th with two brutal knockdowns.
Macklin would return to his corner bloodied and bruised but still game. Trainer Buddy McGirt, however, had seen enough and in an act of compassion not uncommon in boxing, refused to let his charge out for the final round.
It went down in the record book as a RTD [referee technical decision] in the 11th round.
"Buddy stopped the fight, I wanted to continue," Macklin [28-4, 19 KOs] later told reporters. "I've never ever quit. I gave it 100 percent. I think anyone who watched would agree, Hopefully, I didn't let anyone down."
Certainly not McGirt, whose list of world champions has included Antonio Tarver, Leila Ali and the late Arturo Gatti.
"He might have lost the battle, but he won the war. I'm very proud of him," said the trainer.
And most of the Irish in the sold out 4,671 crowd in The Theater at the Garden, too.
Macklin's effort was quintessential Celtic. The stuff that has earned Irish pugilists a reputation as warriors.
"He fought bravely and he fought smart. He did 150 percent more than people give him credit for, " said McGirt.
Martinez, who's considered the third best fighter, pound-for-pound, in the world, had said as much after retaining his World Boxing Council [WBC] Diamond title.
"It was a complicated fight. He's a tough fighter and he didn't come out to attack as I expected," the Argentine said through an interpreter.
Macklin, instead, used a lot of movement - feet, head, feints and angles to create punching opportunities while denying the sharp shooting champion a target.
A counterpuncher, Martinez was unable to get into an groove early and although dramatic when his single shots landed - as when a sneaky left uppercut almost floored Macklin in the fourth -- it was the challenger piling up the points with his steady work rate. All three judges had him sweeping the third, fourth and fifth rounds.
Macklin enjoyed success with the right hand, the bane of all southpaws, including one in a fifth round that underscored his early dominance.
There was a Martinez rally of sorts in the sixth, the first he won unanimously since the second stanza but that was undone by the knockdown in seventh, which was scored 10-8 in Macklin's favor.
That would be the turning point.
Martinez came out in boxing mode for the eighth and began connecting with venom -- jabs, single power shots and one-twos.
By the 11th round, his deadly accuracy had taken its toll. Macklin was cut above the left eye and bruised above and below the right. He was also tiring. In a flash, a counter left sent the Tipperary man crashing to the canvas at 1:41.
Macklin easily beat the count and reassured referee Ed Cotton that he was fine. On the restart, Martinez jumped on him swinging. But it was the one meaningful shot that connected, another left counter, that dropped Macklin again - on the bell this time.
McGirt had no hesitation stopping it, he told the Irish Times. Macklin had lost his legs.
"From the seventh round, it was his legs. There was a full round to go and he was getting caught by clean shots, so why go and take a chance for three minutes? He understood and he didn't object."
Said Macklin: "I stopped moving my head and got a little heavy on my feet, and he caught me with a few shots and got his confidence up a little."
Lou DiBella, promoter of both fighters and another Irish middleweight, Andy Lee, had kudos for both.
"Matthew is a world champion-level fighter and his stock has certainly risen. He is the second or third best middleweight in the world and he gave Sergio everything he could handle. But Sergio is superman and he turned it up a notch," said DiBella.
