Matthew Macklin talks promoters, trainers and 'that' fight

I like mack, and i like his style but the fellas full of excuses. Good read though

 

I no your going to say I am just getting on Macklins back again Slap but he has come across poorly in both parts of your interview with him and in a interview with the scene yesterday.

It seems he blames everyone but himself for the problems and has excuses for everything thats gone wrong in the past and some ready made excuses for the Barker fight. Having a go at Hatton Promotions for putting a fight on a friday.......which is when Sky TV who pay the bulk of his purse televise boxing is ridiclious. The fight is in Manchester as they have Crolla, Murray, Quigg and Vassell on there card who all sell tickets in that area and the card would do better business in Manchester instead of Birmingham where he doesn't sell tickets. Leaving Warren because he didn't win purse bids for the Elcock fight....which didn't sell more than 2000 tickets does he expect Warren to lose money?

Also his "Dream team" training situation sounds complicated and just destined to have problems. Going to LA for 3 weeks and then flying back without his trainer who won't be showing up until a few days before the fight. Roach is going to be in Mexico with Chavez Jnr on Sep 11th, Pacquiao who likes 10 week training camps starting in the Phillipenes has a fight November 13th so Roach being in the UK for 5 days just doesn't fit into that schedule. I would not be suprised if Roach isn't there on the night. Also if he is there he will be sparring with Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr.....you don't wanna be sparring with a world class fighter who is ready to fight in 2 weeks in the build up to the biggest fight of your career. We all know what happend to macklin last time he was sparring at the wildcard.

In his interview at the scene he just went on about how bad he thought Barker was picking out every single tiny flaw from any bad performance he has. It just sounds like Macklin is having to convince himself that he can beat Barker by focusing on the negatives. I prefer to see a boxer just focused on getting themselves ready to face there opponent at there very best. I remember Haye and Booth before the Macceranelli fight saying they were preparing for the Enzo that beat Dominguez and Braithwaite plus 50% more.

Barker is already in Spain, running up Mount Tiedi fully focussed on the fight with his trainer who has been his trainer since the day he turned profesional. As he said "I don't have to get on a plain for 10 hour to get my nose broken"

 

Macklin's training situation isn't ideal but I don't see it as a problem. He's been training with Joe Gallagher for a few weeks and has already been in LA a week (with Gallagher). So he'll have plenty of training with Freddy and then will pick up where he left off when he comes back to Manchester for the final few weeks.

As for sparring Chavez, it can only be a good thing. Broken noses can happen to anyone at anytime but world class sparring is hard to get. Chavez is good preparation for Barker and tough sparring is the best way to prepare yourself.

We'll see in September My only problem is I'll be sailing around Croatia so will miss the bloody fight!

 

Rob once again bang-on mate :good

 

Good for him, he's still going to lose :deal

 

good read

this really is a 50/50 fight really hard to call.

 

I agree that he does seem to point the finger a lot in that interview. But I disagree that his preparation is less than ideal.

If Roach is there a day or two before the fight, there is nothing wrong with that. He'll have him well drilled on what to do until he arrives and it's really only when he is in the corner that his tactical expertise come into play.

I find it staggering that you think him sparring quality partners at the Wildcard is a bad thing. Sparring JCC Junior is a massive boost for him to have. Better to get a bit roughed up (not saying he will be) than destroy everyone in front of you. You'll learn nothing from sparring bums if you are preparing to fight a decent fighter.

 

fair point but at this stage of your career sparring is more about getting your timing and in ring fitness up rather than learning new things. its quite rare that you would find top level fighters sparring one another.

 

You said earlier it was a bad thing...changing your tune now?!

Top sparring is one of the keys to success. It brings on fighters leaps and bounds. The sparring he will get at the wild card is only a positive thing and will have him in the best of shape.

When you spar with just one or two people you get comfortable with them and don't work as hard. When we have lots of people down to spar then you get so much more out of it as you're on your toes for every round you're in there.

 

there no changing of tune. i never said it was a bad thing just don't think its as good as people make out. the general sparring at the WC is great for the variety but i dont think sparring other world class fighters so close to a big fight is so good.

top sparring is far more beneficial for a novice and prospect. thats when you need to be sparring world class fighters. not when your at that level yourself and have forfilled your potential.

 

It's not rare in the Wildcard anyways. I didn't necessarily meaning learning by sparring good opposition but more, getting better prepared. What better way to prepare than by sparring guys who are on the same level as your future opponent. The idea of pre fight sparring is to emulate the way you will fight, a dress rehearsal, along with the timing/fitness factors you mentioned.

 

That's just not true. Name one top boxer who has said they ease off on sparring after a few years in the game?

For every sparring session you should be on your toes and not in your comfort zone. You get so much more out of it. Macklin will get exactly that at the wild card and the better sparring he gets, the better prepared he will be. Simple.

 

who does floyd mayweather spar 2-3 weeks before a fight. same with pacquiao, marquez, dawson, martinez, ward. Guarentee you its nobody in the top 25.

 

How do you know who they spar with?! Incidentally, Floyd has had K9 Bundrage as a sparring partner many times and he just won a title last weekend