Fight Night this weekend came from Dublin and featured quite a few interesting matchups – some up and comers and some going for world title fights. The feature fight of the night was Matthew Macklin who was taking on the young Argentinian, Jorge Sebastian Heiland. This fight was billed as the last chance saloon for Macklin, if he won he’d go on to a world title fight at the age of 32, if not, it is likely his career would be over. Unfortunately for Macklin, the latter happened.
Despite starting well in the first couple of rounds, he quickly tired and by the 5th round was just unable to keep up with the pace of the young Argentinian. Macklin hit Heiland with his best shot and he didn’t flinch, this is when you know a fighter is doomed. Heiland just continually came forward and threw punch after punch after punch, not giving Macklin a moment to relax. He probably worked harder than almost any boxer I’ve ever seen, even though a lot of his punches did miss the target hopelessly. The fight finally came to an end in the 10th round when Heiland caught Macklin with a peach of a right hand, leaving him hanging out of the ropes unconscious.
There was better news elsewhere however for British fight fans. Anthony Crolla was in action again following his technical draw in Manchester a few months ago. It was rumoured that he was on the verge of getting a world title fight so taking a 6 rounder against a relatively unknown opponent was certainly a risk, he came of it with flying colours though and got rid of some of the ring rust. Eddie Hearn announced after the fight that he’d be taking on Richar Abril for the world lightweight title in Manchester on January 23rd 2015. Being a Manchester lad himself, he couldn’t have asked for a more perfect setting for his maiden world title fight.
Some of the other fights that stood out on the night were Kal Yafai and John Joe Nevin. Nevin lost to Luke Campbell in the 2012 Olympic final and admits the better fighter won on the day. He’s now 3 fights in to his career with 3 wins after brutally dispatching of Jack Heath. Heath looked like a lost boy in the ring and following 2 knockdowns inside the first 2 minutes looked scared of taking anymore punishment. He was looking over to the corner to throw in the towel but he had to fake going down again to get the ref to stop it. Kal Yafai went 12 rounds with a very tough Brazilian called Everth Briceno. Briceno simply would not go down but Yafai outclassed him with his superior technique and range of punches in every round, he certainly throws some exciting combinations. Of a fighter at Yafai’s level of experience it is great to get a 12 rounder in and come out of it so well.
