Brian Peters Promotions – Press Release
Matthew Macklin hopes that the uproar surrounding his controversial
points defeat to WBA World Middleweight Champion Felix Sturm in
Germany at the weekend will decrease the chances of David Haye
suffering a similar fate against Wladimir Klitschko in Hamburg Saturday.
Macklin appeared to have done more than enough to rip Sturm’s title
away in front of a sell out crowd of almost 20,000 at the Lanxess
Arena in Cologne only for two of the three scoring judges to deny him
his World title dream.
The decision baffled many of those in attendance and the millions
watching worldwide on SAT.1 in Germany, Sky Sports in the UK and
Ireland and on Epix in the U.S. A viewers poll on the SAT.1 website
spoke volumes with 76% of German’s polled believing that Macklin had
won the fight as opposed to just 24% for Sturm.
The German media were equally outraged with headlines since the fight
such as, “A Sturm of Indignation”, “German Boxing Disgrace”,
“Miscarriage of Justice” and “Fluke Victory”.
Macklin hopes that the uproar will benefit David Haye should his
clash with Klitschko be decided on the scorecards. “I think David has
the power and speed to knock Klitschko out anyway and take it out of
the judges hands but if it goes to the scorecards then I think the
spotlight will really be on the judges after my fight and hopefully
David will get a fair shake,” said Macklin.
“I got back from Germany yesterday but the fan’s over there were
coming up to me and apologising for the decision. I think they have
been very embarrassed by it and the German media reports on the fight
have reflected that. One of the papers even reported that Felix needed
to have TV make up applied so that he would look a little better at
the post fight press conference!
“I believe I was the better man on the night and it seems to me that
almost everyone aside from those two judges who scored for Sturm saw
it the same way. It was a tough fight but I thought I was a clear
winner.
“After the fight I asked him for a rematch and he told me ‘I’m a man,
I will give you a rematch’.
He knows I beat him and he’s embarrassed by that decision so if he’s
the fighter I think he is I’m sure he will want to put it right but
if not then I won’t lose any sleep over it and I will move on. In our
hearts we both know that I won that fight hands down. I proved that I
belong at the highest level and this has only made me more determined
than ever to succeed.”
Macklin’s manager Brian Peters says that the support from the boxing
community worldwide has been heartening. “A lot of very respected
people within the sport have spoken out on the decision and it’s been
great to receive that kind of support. Thomas Hauser and Dan Rafael
are among two of the most widely read commentators on the sport and
they both had Matthew winning by scores of 117 – 111 and Lennox Lewis
said it was ‘highway robbery’ and one of the worst decisions he’d
seen. The former World Heavyweight title challenger Axel Schulz was
commentating for German TV and he had Matthew winning by three
rounds.
“We’ve been inundated with emails from German fans expressing their
disgust at the decision and Felix’s own Facebook page has been
flooded with negative comments as well from Germans so that tells
it’s own story.”
