Macklin's Take - Boxing Podcast

In this latest episode in our Make or Break series me & Matt are joined by former WBO Cruiserweight champion and Sky colleague Johnny Nelson. Johnny takes us back to 1989 when he boxed Andy Straughn in the Finsbury Park Super Tent for the British title and then to 10 years later in 1999 when he faced his third, and what definitely would have been his final, world title shot vs Carl Thompson. If he...

In this latest episode in our Make or Break series me & Matt are re-joined by former 3-time World Super Middleweight champion, now Sky colleague Carl Froch. The Cobra takes us through his key battles with Jean Pascal and Jermain Taylor, the fights that established him as a major player on the world stage. We’ve made a technical leap this week too, so the sound’s better. Desire + CapitalRyan and Ja...

In this week’s Lockdown Bonus Episode me and Matt revisit conversations we’ve had with our Boxing Insiders. We have the inimitable Jon Pegg; the Winston Wolf of the fight game in Al Siesta; top cornerman Mark Seltzer; Sky presenter Anna Woolhouse and the hugely experienced trainer and hand-wrapper to the stars Russ Anber. Between them they’ve performed pretty much every role you care to name and i...

This week me and Matt continue our Make or Break series, where we talk to fighters about their most pivotal career wins, and in this episode we talk to our good friend Spencer Oliver. We turn the clock back to 1997 to when Spencer was a 9-0 prospect and about to face his first big test, a battle with fellow undefeated fighter on the rise Patrick Mullings for the vacant Southern Area Super Bantamwe...

This week me and Matt have a look back at some of the conversations we’ve enjoyed with world champions on Macklin’s Take. We’ve had plenty on so we’ll probably do a couple more of these but for this one we’ve picked out Barry Jones, Glenn McCrory, George Groves and Carl Froch. If you haven’t listened to the full individual episodes then do check them out (the ones with Grove and Froch came early o...

This week me and Matt kick off a new series we’re calling Make or Break. In it we talk to fighters about pivotal fights in their careers, fights that had they not won them then their stories would have been very different or in some cases over. Fights that whilst they might not have been their biggest in terms of titles or purses or profiles, were in so many ways their most important. And we kick...

This week me and Matt look back on conversations we’ve had with people operating on the front line, carving out careers in boxing trenches. This episode features away corner legend Peter Buckley, the hammer-fisted Cello Renda, aspiring world champion Cherrelle Brown, Fitzroy Lodge stalwart Mark Reigate and seasoned pros Paul Ramsey, Shaun Cogan and Anthony Maynard. It takes in all aspects of life...

This week me and Matt are in the company of Light Heavyweight contender Craig Richards. Craig was all set to challenge for the vacant British 175lbs title at the end of March before being laid low by Covid-19. He tells us what it was like contracting and battling the virus, how he’s managing to deal with lockdown and what level of unusual of conditions he’s willing to fight under when boxing does...

For this week’s Lockdown Bonus we’ve decided to bring you a USA Special. We’ve had so many good guests on from the other side of the Atlantic and in this episode we revisit chats we had with legendary boxing scribe Thomas Hauser, print and broadcast doyen Steve Farhood, the one and only Michael Buffer, former world champion turned elite level pundit Paulie Malignaggi and current 3-weight world cha...

After a grim few weeks it looks like plans are underway for the return of professional boxing. So what will shows look like in those early days of any resumption and how will they work? There are so many questions and to try and answer them me and Matt called upon Kugan Cassius, a good mate of ours and one of the mainstays of the boxing media. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people ta...

With no big fights on the horizon for a while me and Matt have decided to wind the clock back to early December and the Andy Ruiz vs Anthony Joshua rematch in Saudi Arabia. It was a huge week for British boxing. The build-up was tense and it was of course all played out in unfamiliar surroundings which only added to the drama. We thoroughly enjoyed it and in podcast terms it was a joy as we had so...

This week we’re joined by our Sky colleague and old international team-mate of Matt’s, Paul Smith. Paul and Matt go way, way back so he was the perfect person to lift the lid on Matt’s early years. It was great fun listening to them re-live their old amateur days as well as hearing all about what it meant to Paul to win the British title and challenge for world titles on behalf of his beloved Live...

As promised here’s another Lockdown Bonus episode and this week we concentrate on promoters. So with that in mind we revisit chats me and Matt have had with Frank Smith, Stefy Bull, Lee Eaton and a certain Kalle Sauerland. These 4 have seen it all at every level and have the stories to match. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking about Marx, and occasionally Marx himself....L...

This week we’re joined by an old acquaintance of Matt Macklin, fight scribe Glynn Evans. Glynn was at Boxing Monthly from the beginning and fills us in on what life was like working for the famous magazine, tells us how the written media has changed over the last 30 years and gives us an insider’s view of the famous Calzaghe Newbridge gym. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talkin...

With another 3 weeks of lockdown looming we’ve decided to up our game and bring you some extra bonus episodes. So we’ve made some new ones by going through our back catalogue, stealing some of the best bits and sewing them together. This week we concentrate on the role of the trainer and revisit conversations me and Matt had with the likes of Jim McDonnell, Jamie Moore, Joe Gallagher and Dave Cold...

Who better to stave off isolation boredom than Jon Pegg? We all know Jon as a boxing trainer, manager and promoter but what you may not know is that he’s also an award-winning scriptwriter and film director. So this week the second city’s Renaissance Man joins me and Matt for a good chat about boxing’s long and close relationship with the silver screen. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about...

This week Macklin's Take goes remote! He's in Solihull, I'm in Forest Gate and this week we decided to take your questions. It led to some interesting conversations particularly around the issues of the mental stresses and strains of the loneliness and isolation involved in being a pro boxer, a subject everyone can relate to at the moment. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talkin...

This week Adam Smith joins me and Matt to look back on over a quarter of a century on the Sky Sports boxing team. The highs, the lows, the ridiculous, the sublime and everything in between. This episode was recorded on March 6th. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking about Marx, and occasionally Marx himself....Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify The Noco Moto Motorcycle Podc...

This week me and Matt are joined by on of the most respected trainers in UK boxing, Graham Everett. Herbie Hide, Jon Thaxton, the Walsh brothers, all of them, and many more were brought through by Graham and away from the traditional bright lights of boxing hubs such as |London, Liverpool, Manchester or Sheffield. He hasn't just developed boxers, he's built careers and knows the business inside ou...

This week me and Matt are joined by 2 weight world champion Carl Frampton. The Jackal will soon be challenging for a world title in a third weight division so we took the opportunity to rewind the clock a few years and have a look back to Carl’s early years, early fears and plenty else besides. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking about Marx, and occasionally Marx himself......

This week we’re joined by 3-weight world champion Claressa Shields and former IBO champion Hannah Rankin. Back in late 2018 these two fought each other for 3 world Middleweight titles and were sworn enemies yet now they’re the best of friends. Their journeys and backgrounds could hardly be more different but now they’re both standard bearers for women’s pro boxing. So what’s it really like being a...

This week me and Matt sit down with British Middleweight champion Liam Williams. The Welshman trains at the world-famous Ingle gym in Sheffield and is on the brink of a world title shot. It’s an exciting and frustrating position to be in, and one that Matt’s been in himself, so it was the perfect opportunity for the two of them to compare notes on the stresses and strains of a boxing life. Desire...

This week me and Matt catch up with WBA Super Flyweight champ Kal Yafai. Kal’s the UK’s longest reigning world champ and on Saturday faces the biggest test of his career when he defends his title against 4 weight world champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez. He feels he’s at the peak of his powers but as the oldest of the 3 Yafai brothers told us, it hasn’t always been plain sailing, far from it. D...

This week we catch up with the Boxing Don of Doncaster; trainer, manager and promoter Stefy Bull. Stefy, who held a Central Area title back in his boxing days, has brought so many fighters through the ranks with his latest star being new WBC Super Featherweight champion Terri Harper who followed in Jamie McDonnell’s footsteps to a world title. But there’s Area champs, English, British, Commonwealt...

This week me and Matt sit down with our Sky colleague and very good friend Anna Woolhouse. "The Raging Wool", as we like to call her, presents the boxing on Sky and has done for the last 3 years so we were very curious to know what he's made of the boxing world since she entered it and whether she had any idea what she was getting herself into.  Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people...