Mack ready for another world title attack

Macklin after his win over Alcine

This past Saturday night Matthew Macklin was handed an opportunity on the Martinez v Chavez undercard because of his deal with Martinez's promoter Lou DiBella, as he faced off against Montreal based Haitian Joachim Alcine. Boxing News had predicted a tricky night for Matt saying "Macklin should be able to withstand some anxious moments to take a decision", however he stunned the slow starting Alcine by landing a huge right hand in the first round, which had pretty much finished the fight, although he had to put him down once again and put on a lot of heat to get the job done.

I did expect Alcine to be the kind of fighter to make Macklin look pretty spectacular, he has left himself open in the past and it was only two years ago that Alfredo Angulo had destroyed him in a round. However he was on a good run of form having beaten David Lemieux, and the win has really brought Macklin back into the world title picture.

Twice Macklin has been left disappointed in world title tilts, the decision over in Germany against Felix Sturm was disgusting, and then he put a really brave performance against Sergio Martinez, who came on strong to stop him in 11 rounds. With Macklin it could be a case that he's really unlucky that the middleweight division is the most competitive in world Boxing at the moment. Martinez, Geale and Golovkin are three standout names in my eyes, but behind them is the likes of Hassan N'Jikam, Dmitry Pirog and Peter Quillin, while the UK scene is incredibly strong at the top with Martin Murray, the injury ravaged Darren Barker, and Billy Joe Saunders, who had a great win over Jarrod Fletcher on Friday night.

McGirt (second from right) could be the man to lead Mack to world title glory

Macklin has the tools to become a world champion though, he's incredibly fit, has fantastic power, and with no disrespect to Joe Gallagher, who I'm a huge fan of, moving over to train with Buddy McGirt is probably the best thing he's done. The added time of working with McGirt seemed to really benefit him ahead of this fight, and what I saw from them at the end of Saturday's fight was there's a real strong relationship between the two. For this fight Macklin trained in his new gym over in Marbella, which not only benefits himself, but also local disadvantaged children.

Macklin looks settled now, he has been in between trainers and promoters in the past, I've always been a fan of his, but I think he became frustrated in the UK with promoters. He appeared on Frank Warren and Ricky Hatton shows in his last few UK bouts, but many big fights, including one with Khoren Gevor on the Khan v McCloskey undercard fell through late on. Now that he has a deal with DiBella, Macklin seems to have the opportunity of regular fights, although I'm unsure when his next bout would be.

An all Irish fight with Lee appeals

I've always been someone who's called for Macklin to face Barker, but that one looks very unlikely now with Barker's injury problems, the Barnet man will need at least two fights in preparation for someone of Macklin's level. If he was to fight for a world title, from a fan's perspective I would love to see him face Golovkin or Pirog. Those two fights have war written all over it and all three guys have solid names over in the US. The other fight that makes obvious appeal is an all Irish bout with Andy Lee, who lost to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in his last fight, but showed plenty of quality in the first few rounds. Lee has long been established in the US, and the battle in the ring is intriguing, as well as the the battle outside the ring between famed trainers McGirt and Manny Stewart. I would love to see Macklin out before Christmas, not much energy will have been used in the first round blowout, but it's all about where DiBella stands with getting a TV date.