Sergio Martinez showed that age has not dimmed his skills as he retained his world middleweight title when Matthew Macklin was pulled out by his corner after the eleventh round.
Macklin could not have put in a prouder performance. He surprised Martinez by boxing a cagey fight, keeping it close throughout and was even credited with a knockdown in the seventh, when Martinez seemed to partially trip over his leg.
But the accumulation of big clean shots, that Martinez was landing throughout, eventually took their toll, as Macklin was knocked down twice at the end of the eleventh.
“It was a tough fight, he didn’t come out like I expected and he wasn’t open on his defence,” said Martinez, who holds out hope of a big-money bout before time ticks out on his career. “But I won and that was the important thing.”
Madison Square Garden’s theatre was sold out for the bout, a crowd of about 5,000, mostly backing Macklin, a Brummie with an Irish passport, boxing in New York on St Patrick’s Day.
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“From Birmingham and representing all the Irish the world over,” was how Michael Buffer, the master of ceremonies, put it.
When he had challenged Felix Sturm for the WBA title last year, Macklin started fast, but there was a slightly cagey opening round, with neither over-committing.
Martinez was determined to keep his distance in the second and pick his shots. One short left staggered Macklin back into the ropes and getting close to the southpaw was not working well for him.
The third was a better round for Macklin, though, as he got on the front foot and landed some shot from distance, while ducking beneath most of Martinez’s attempts.
Macklin was staggered again by a short uppercut in the fourth, but apart from that things went okay for Macklin, who seemed keen to try and counter-punch Martinez. He had his best round by far in the fifth, catching Martinez with several big rights and getting the crowd excited.
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He had a good start to the sixth, but Martinez landed a few hard, eye-catching single shots late in the round.
A big twist came in the seventh: Martinez was holding on as Macklin threw a short hook. Martinez fell over Macklin’s leg and touched down, with Eddie Cotton, the referee, controversially scoring a knockdown. Clearly riled, Martinez finished the round in impressive fashion and landed some hard lefts in the eighth that rocked Macklin.
The ninth and tenth rounds saw Martinez step up a gear and Macklin struggled to cope, as he was knocked about and hurt by Martinez’s single shots.
Macklin gave it a good go in the eleventh, whacking away whenever Martinez was in range. But the left turned things again conclusively in the last 30 seconds, sending Macklin staggering back to the floor with a big left and then again when the bell rang for the end of the round.
There was no quit in Macklin, who got to his feet and walked back to his corner, but James ‘Buddy’ McGirt, his trainer refused to let him go out for the last.