WBC Intervention won’t stop Macklin/Martinez

By Jonny Stapleton

WBC intervention will not prevent Matthew Macklin and Sergio Martinez trading leather in New York on March 17 according to Team Macklin.

The much-touted fight between the middleweights hit a potential stumbling block as the WBC ruled that regular champion Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. must fight diamond champion Martinez in his next fight.

The South Americans have separate assignments planned early for 2012, with  Martinez expected to fight Irish Middleweight Macklin at Madison Square Garden on St Patricks Day.

However purse bids for Martinez and Chavez Jr. have been set for January 6, but Macklin will hope Chavez’s promoters Top Rank and Lou DiBella will come to an agreement that will enable ’Mack the Knife’ to have a stab at Martinez before Chavez, who Andy Lee is eager to face.

“We don’t anticipate it throwing a major spanner in the works. Everyone is still on board for the Paddy’s Day fight and I’d expect that Martinez, Chavez and the WBC will be able to come to some arrangement,” Tomas Rohan of Brian Peters Promotions, Macklin’s management team told Irish Central recently.