In his first fight at super welterweight since 2006 in his legendary war with Jamie Moore, Matthew Macklin showed superior shot selection and skills in a local derby against an incredibly tough Jason Welborn, in a brilliant ten round battle.
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In an exciting 154lbs fight, the start bore no feeling out process at all, with both men opting to get down to business from the off.
Jason Welborn started very positively and had good success with the right hand in the early rounds, although Macklin responded well at times with selectively placed body shots and counters.
The early rounds followed a pattern of Welborn aggression vs Macklin counters.
By the fifth round the slightly over aggressive Welborn was deducted a point for a painful looking low blow, that visibly effected Macklin for a number of minutes before action resumed.
Welborn was throwing the kitchen sink at Macklin in the mid rounds and looked to be expending a lot of energy, while Macklin boxed well under pressure and was countering nicely at times.
The seventh round saw the high work rate of Welborn slowed down by a beautiful left hook to the body from Macklin, who sensed he had hurt Welborn.
The Macklin body shots were finally taking effect and although Welborn had shown a lot of aggression, Macklin did block a lot of the shots and countered quite cleverly, at times.
In an all action, tough contest, both men were still working hard down the stretch but understandably slowing a little – with the more quality work coming from Macklin.
The 9th round saw a furious exchange with right hands from Welborn again, and vicious body shots in return from Macklin – who ripped in the body shots. A left hook from Welborn at one point knocked the gum shield out of Macklin’s mouth.
Despite Macklin’s numerous body shots landed, Welborn’s resolve was quite remarkable and soaked the body shots up all night. One would imagine his ribs will be sore tomorrow.
The final round saw a huge effort from the relentless Welborn who continued to eat counters, in what was a real war on the night.
Matthew Macklin won via unanimous decision in the end. A tremendous fight, where both men received a standing ovation from the Birmingham crowd.
(Image credit: Proboxinginsider.com)
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