By Leonard Gunning

Matthew Macklin never got out of third gear as he extended his record to 26-2 (18) by cruising to a comprehensive ten round points victory over Uruguay’s Rafael Sosa Pintos, 34-5 (13), to end his year on a high in front of a packed out National Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. The win brings a potential shot at Kelly Pavlik ever closer.

A confident Pintos had been hitting the headlines in the Irish press all week by stating that he would upset the odds and derail Macklin’s title ambitions.  The two weight Uruguayan champion made his was to the ring draped in his national flag, distinctive red shorts and white gloves, whilst Macklin followed to the tune of ‘The Rocky Road to Dublin’ in his usual green shorts with gold trim.  After the short formalities were out off the way Macklin set out his stall early by establishing his jab and pressurising the former WBC Latino light middleweight champion.

The Birmingham man’s game plan was to edge his way slowly whilst controlling the centre of the ring.  Macklin forced Pintos to retreat early and kept him on the back foot for the majority of the fight.  Pintos held a high central guard throughout the bout as Macklin circled ‘El Mono’ giving him an early taste of the punishing body punches that would become his mainstay.

Macklin found it difficult to penetrate the South American’s crablike guard until the end of the second round when Pintos paid dearly for holding his guard too high as Macklin delivered a crunching right hook under the elbow which saw him stumble backwards to against the ropes and then slump to the canvas.

Pintos started the third round with his guard held a little lower to protect his torso from ‘The Knifes’ relentless barrage to the body but Macklin patiently stayed out off the Uruguayan’s range, opting to pepper Pintos with thoughtful, methodical single shots to the head and body.

Macklin increased the intensity of his work in the fourth as he dispensed combinations which although sporadic where dispatched with growing venom.  With 30 seconds to go in the round Macklin landed a crushing looping left hand to the unguarded body of Pinto, which made him visibly wilt.  This encouraged Macklin in the fifth, as the fight was becoming a landslide.

In the fifth Macklin again did his best work late in the round, which was generally the only time his opponent opened up, he poked a pawing left lead into the face of Pintos and left it there to draw the guard and deliver a blistering right under the guard to the floating rib, with the Uruguayan taking another count.

Macklin marched forward unleashing heavy flurries, eager to finish the fight in front of his baying Irish fans.  But a game Pintos came back into the round and to his credit never flinched from anything Macklin has to offer.

The sixth round saw Pintos enjoy his best spell of the fight and he began to have partial success in walking Macklin down and caught the Irishman with a heavy overhand right.  Pintos continued more aggressively throughout the first two minutes of the round catching Macklin with lead lefts and darting combinations but in truth Macklin never looked in danger or unduly worried and was content to take a break.

Encouraged by Joe Gallagher during the interval, Macklin piled forward in order to finish the contest but his experienced opponent held and attempted to spoil his efforts.  As he chased forward Macklin landed a glancing overhand right, which sent Pintos back peddling, but the durable Salto native refused to yield and whilst Macklin was dominant he was unable to land sufficient concussive combinations.

Macklin coasted through the 8th and 9th stanzas and Pintos looked happy to just hang on in for the ride.  Macklin continued to deliver single shots whilst looking for an opening that didn’t look like coming.  Half a minute into the 9th round Macklin caught Pintos again with a right to the body that grazed his opponents protector, Pintos claimed it was a low blow and took a knee but referee Emile Tiedt deemed the shot legal and gave the fighter a short count.  Macklin seemed to have regained some of his earlier impetuous and threw caution to the wind battering the body and head, whipping in vicious left and right hand combinations which left Pintos glued to the ropes.

Macklin began the tenth and final round by momentarily showboating as he beckoned Pintos to step into a brawl.  Pintos declined and despite Macklin continuing his high tempo one-sided hammering of his outclassed foe, Pintos remained unmoved and unfazed to the final bell.

There was little doubt about the result.  Emile Tiedt scored the bout 99-88 in favour of the home fighter and the crowd gave the Uruguayan a hearty round of applause in acknowledgement of his valiant effort.

After the fight Macklin revealed that he had damaged the knuckles of his the left hand in the second round and also hurt his right hand later in the fight.  A frustrated Macklin revealed that, “The few times I caught him clean was when he came forward, but it was good to get 10 rounds under my belt.  I was never in any trouble and maybe could have done with being in more trouble to bring a little more out of me.”

He went on to add: “It was a good performance against a negative opponent.  I will go away, enjoy the Christmas and please God its Kelly Pavlik next year”.

Joe Gallagher pointed out that, “(Anthony) Mundine couldn’t trouble him (Pintos) and look what Matt did”.  Whilst promoter Ricky Hatton outlined that, “He is that close (to a world title shot) he can taste it.  Matt scored two knockdowns and even with a hand injury it was a really good performance.  I will get him a title fight, which he deserves,” declared Hatton.

Hatton then quipped, “If he doesn’t (get a world title shot) I’ll throw away my promoters licence!  2010 will be his year”

On the undercard Andrew Murray, 17-0 (8), carved out a solid win over game Ecuadorian Alex Bone after six competitive rounds of boxing.  Bone took the fight to the Cavanman impressing himself on the outstanding former amateur champion by working on the inside and roughing up the man from the Breen Gym.

The first two even rounds were relatively even but Murray began to take control in the third using his superior technical ability and employing his uppercuts to good effect.  But a usually sloppy defence meant Murray was continually tagged with ease when he failed to keep his distance from the battling Bone.

A rusty Murray, on his comeback after a lay off following a broken collar bone, continued walking into Bone’s crude hooks and overhand rights until the final bell rang but deserved his 58-56 points victory.

Murray explained that Bone was, “Hard and durable and hard to catch clean” and that he was glad to have six rounds under the belt following his injury and would be back with a better performance in his next outing.

In a repeat of a December 2008 bout Paul Hyland, 16-1 (5), put an exhibition of boxing to stop Eugene Heagney inside three rounds to retain his Irish super bantamweight title.  Hyland led from the first bell, stinging Heagney with his sharp jab, which invariably teed up a heavy overhand right.  The ‘Golden Cobra’ man showed off his flashy stylistic skills and held a McCloskey-esque low left hand for much of the fight as he toyed with Heagney.

Confusing Heagney throughout, Hyland began to land damaging flurries at will and as ever aimed to finish with a heavy right until 2.20 of the third round when he landed a heavy combination sending Yorkshire based fighter to the canvas, Hyland quickly piled in and the fight was stopped 20 seconds later.