Matthew Macklin: I can beat Sergio Martinez!

Macklin finished Alcine in just one round.

British middleweight No.1 Matthew Macklin is coming off of a fantastic first round knockout victory over Joachim Alcine and is very confident in himself as a middleweight contender right now.
"You can never plan on a first round knockout but I know I have that type of power," said Macklin. "It was nice to beat a former champion such as Alcine in such devastating fashion. It was nice to get an early night. My last few fights went twelve rounds and the Martinez fight went eleven. I believe I made a statement in the middleweight division."

Macklin believes that his performance against Alcine should have earned him another shot at the WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez. Macklin shocked a lot of people with his performance in the pair's first fight after he was ahead after nine rounds. However, unfortunately he couldn't hold onto the lead and suffered an eleventh round knockout. "Mack The Knife" claims that he has improved already since then and he is the main man that deserves a shot at "Maravilla."

"After having watched Sergio put on such a dominating performance against Chavez Jr prior to the last round and to think in our fight I was ahead after nine rounds. It shows where my standing is in the middleweight division and I believe that I am the only middleweight in the world that can justifiably say that I can beat Sergio Martinez," said Macklin. "It was a masterclass performance by Sergio. He schooled him really. If you look at my performance I am really the only one who can say I can beat Martinez. He is the king of the middleweight division and I am the heir to the throne."

 

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Ward eyes Pavlik or a move up to 175lb...

Andre 'S.O.G' Ward.

You would think that after beating just about every guy who has been put in front of him and now being considered as the second best fighter on the planet, Andre Ward would be in a fantastic position right now. Well, unfortunately there's a slight problem... 'S.O.G' has just about wiped out the whole of the super-middleweight division, meaning there is now not really any testing fights out there for him.

When asked about this problem on the Boxing Lab Radio, this is what Ward said: "That's a good problem to have if I'm going to have any problems. I'm happy about that... I'm aware of what we've done up until this point and there are not a lot of options at 168. I think you have one or two guys that are the top but I've either already fought them or it's probably not realistic to make a fight. And you have young guys that are on their way up to contender status and those aren't really options either so I really don't know what's next."

However, there is still one fighter out there that Ward wouldn't mind facing.

"I mean you guys got like Kelly Pavlik out there," said Ward. "I know he's got one more shot left in him and he's mentioned my name and not disrespectfully. He's just saying that he wants another crack at a top guy so Kelly is definitely an option. He's got a name and he's still a tough fighter."

Ward still hasn't ruled out a move up in weight and is excited by the light-heavyweight division.

"And of course the 175 pound division which I'm excited about. I don't know if its going to be my next fight but I'm just excited about that next challenge and I think my body is going to be happy about having that extra weight on me as well. I think I'm going to be a lot stronger."

 

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Lamont Peterson remains IBF champ!

The International Boxing Federation (IBF) have announced that Lamont Peterson will remain as their light-welterweight champion. 

Peterson failed a drug test during the build-up to his highly anticipated rematch with Amir Khan on May 19th of this year. He was also believed to have had an unusually high level of testosterone in his body when he won the IBF world title in his first fight with Khan. Usually if a boxer fails a drug test he is stripped of his title almost straight away but in this case it was different. Peterson and his team claimed that the hormone was used for medical reasons, but nobody really believed him. However, it has recently been confirmed by a independent physician that Peterson was using the drug for medical reasons and not to enhance his performance. 

There will still be a lot of people who brand Peterson as a drug cheat but it does help his reputation a little now that it has been revealed that he was not attempting to cheat in any way at all. 

Now that the American is the definite champ and ready to compete in the sport again, he has been told by the IBF that he must make a mandatory defence of his title against Zab Judah. Negotiations for the fight have already started and a date will be agreed soon.