The official weigh-in was held today in the Theater at Madison Square Garden for tomorrow night’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration — “THE REAL Middleweight Championship – Get Your Irish Up” — presented by DiBella Entertainment. World Middleweight Champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez tipped the scales at 157 ½ pounds, while challenger Matthew “Mack the Knife” Macklin weighed in at 158 pounds
In the 10-round “Bombs Away” co-feature, super middleweight Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez and Don “Da Bomb” George both weighed 166 pounds. Martinez-Macklin and Rodriguez-George will both air live on HBO’s “World Championship Boxing,” starting at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT.
Tickets, priced at $505, $355, $205, $125 and $65, are available to purchase through the Madison Square Garden Box Office, through Ticketmaster at Ticketmaster.com or by calling (866) 858-0008. Call DiBella Entertainment at (212) 947-2577, visit www.dbe1.com and @loudibella on Twitter for more information..
Official Weights
World Middleweight Championship (12)
Sergio Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KOs), Oxnard, CA/Buenos Aires, Argentina, 157 ½ lbs.
Matthew Macklin (28-3, 19 KOs), Birmingham, UK, 158 lbs.
Super Middleweights (10)
Edwin Rodriguez (20-0, 14 KOs), Worcester, MA, 166 lbs.
Donovan George (22-1-1, 19 KOs), Chicago, IL, 166 lbs.
WBC Silver Heavyweight Championship (10)
Magomed Abdusalmov (13-0, 13 KOs), Oxnard, CA, 221 lbs.
Jason Pettaway (11-0, 8 KOs), Huntington, WV, 228 ½ lbs.
Light Heavyweights (8)
Seanie Monaghan (12-0, 8 KOs), Long Beach, NY, 173 lbs.
Eric Watkins (6-1, 2 KOs), Morgantown, WV, 173 lbs.
Junior Middleweights (8)
Charlie Ota (19-1-1, 13 KOs), Tokyo, Japan/NY, NY 151 ½ lbs.
Gundrick King (16-7, 11 KOs), Tuscaloosa, AL 153 ½ lbs.
Junior Welterweights (6)
Danny McDermott (9-3-2, 4 KOs), Jersey City, NJ, 140 ½ lbs.
Carl McNickles (7-3, 6 KOs), Chicago, IL, 137 ¼ lbs.
Super Middleweights (4)
Kevin Rooney Jr. (3-1, 1 KO), Catskill, NY 163 ½ lbs.
Anthony Shuff (0-1), Reidsville, NC, 168 lbs.
Heavyweights (4)
Thomas Hardwick (4-0, 2 KOs), Yonkers, NY/Dublin, Ireland, 215 lbs.
Tyrone Gibson (1-1), Duluth, MN, 207 ½ lbs.
Quotes from yesterday’s final press conference ahead of Saturday’s St. Patricks Day World title clash between Matthew Macklin and Sergio Martinez at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Matthew Macklin: “It’s been a long road to get here, I’ve won everything along the way, the Irish middleweight title, the British middleweight title, the European Championship twice and should have added the WBA World Championship to that only to get stiffed out in Germany to Felix Sturm on a horrible decision. However I’m here now and sometimes things happen for a reason. Sergio’s the lineal middleweight champion and the real world champion, he’s universally regarded as the number one in the division and if you want to be the best you have to beat the best.
“I’m very honored to be fighting at Madison Square Garden, such an iconic venue and I’ll be even prouder to win my first world title here. Bringing in World class sparring and setting up training camp in downtown Manhattan for 10 weeks doesn’t come cheap so I’m very appreciate and grateful to my sponsors Goodfellas Pizza, Green Isle, Martin Donnelly and Sierra Communications for their kind and generous support.
Since I started boxing on St. Patrick’s Day in 1994 at the Grand Hotel in Birmingham I always believed that I could go all the way in this sport. On Saturday it will be 18 years to that day when I step into the ring against Sergio Martinez who is not only the best middleweight in the world but one of the best pound for pound fighters in the sport. With regard to Sergio there really is nothing bad to say and it’s not my style to trash talk anyway but every dog has his day and he is 37 years old now and on Saturday night he’s going to feel every single day of those 37 years and there will be a new middleweight champion.
Buddy McGirt – Former two weight World Champion and Macklin’s trainer:
“I’m excited about Saturday because it’s a pleasure working with Matthew and we’re taking on a great champion in Sergio Martinez. It’s good to be home, Madison Square Garden is my home and I fought here over 25 times and there’s no fighter dead or alive who can say that. We’re going to have a great fight on Saturday night and Matthew Macklin will be leaving the building as the new middleweight champion of the world.
Sergio Martinez:
“I dedicate this fight to my family and victims of domestic violence. It’s a great, great honor to fight at Madison Square Garden and a life time dream. It makes me quite emotional.“
Pablo Sarmiento – Trainer of Sergio Martinez
“We’ve worked very hard for this fight and Sergio improves with every fight even more. I have no doubt that he will finish this fight inside the distance.”
Tickets are priced at $505, $355, $205, $125 and $65, and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased through the Madison Square Garden Box Office or through Ticketmaster, at Ticketmaster.com, or by calling (866) 858-0008. Call DiBella Entertainment at (212) 947-2577, or visit www.dbe1.com and @loudibella on Twitter for more information.
The card, which will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing® in the U.S. and on Sky Sports 1 in Ireland and the UK, is entitled, “THE REAL Middleweight Championship – Get Your Irish Up”, and features Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez (48-2-2, 27KO’s) defending his middleweight crown against Ireland’s Matthew “Mack the Knife” Macklin (28-3, 19KO’s). The card is promoted by DiBella Entertainment and will be televised live on HBO beginning 10PM ET/7PM PT and starting from midnight on Sky Sports 1.
For all the latest visit brianpeterspromotions.com, add us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.