February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The 23-year-old Irish middleweight champ landed a hard left hook to the body that forced Little to take a knee in the round. Although he beat referee Shawn Clark’s count, the bruised and battered Little wisely quit on his feet, forcing Clark to halt the bout at 2:20 minutes of the scheduled eight-rounder.
“My plan was to force a fast pace and tire him. It was like I anticipated,” said Macklin, after wowing fans on his maiden appearance in his adopted home city.
“He was trying to spoil my work by moving and holding when up close [but] I took him out with good body shots.”
A third round KO winner over Leo Laudat in his U.S. debut last August, Macklin (15-1, 11 KOs) set up his final assault with a right uppercut to the solar plexus that hurt Little, an Akron, Ohio, pug who fell to 5-3 (1 KO).
Tom Moran, the Philly handler instrumental in Macklin’s move to the city, was impressed by the fighter’s performance.
“He looked terrific,” raved Moran. “Little was getting hit with some devastating body shots.”
Macklin credited his training camp with Ricky Hatton in Manchester for getting him into shape for the fight.
“Training sessions with Ricky are real tough,” he noted.
Macklin sparred with Hatton, the IBF light welterweight champ with whom he shares trainer Billy Graham, while preparing for the bout.
And the Tipperary native’s easy win last Friday now clears him to appear on the undercard of Hatton’s 140-pound unification match with WBA titlist Carlos Maussa of Colombia in Sheffield, England, on Nov. 26.