Macklin's Take - Boxing Podcast

This week on Macklin's Take me and Matt are bringing you a new idea which we're calling This Boxing Life. The idea is that we get a few seasoned, former pros together, not huge names but fighters who have done it the hard way, who know first hand how the sport and business of boxing work, and take a deep dive into their lives and careers. And we kick off in Birmingham at Cogan's Corner gym with Pa...

By popular demand this week sees the return of our top boxing insider Jon Pegg. As always Jon had plenty to say and painted us another vivid picture of the workings of the sport. And we finally lay to rest the issue of Mumba-Gate, a controversy that has been raging since Jon’s first appearance. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking about Marx, and occasionally Marx himself......

To kick off 2020 we bring you top boxing writer, published author and Classical scholar John “Demolition Man” Dennen. As well as being the owner of the most feared southpaw jab in journalism, John is also one of the elite team of scribes that brings us Boxing News every week and always great company. He gave us a cracking insight into life on the road as a member of the written press and with the...

As the year draws to a close me and Matt bring you a festive selection box of some of our favourite bits of the very first year of Macklin’s Take. It was very difficult to choose as we’ve loved every episode and would like to thank all our guests for giving up their time and of course everyone who’s listened. It’s been an absolute joy and we’ll be back next year, but for you now, we give you some...

This week me and Matt sit down with MTK promoter Lee Eaton. Lee started out by putting on a charity boxing night a few years ago and now finds himself co-promoting shows with Bob Arum's Top Rank and mixing with the great and good of the sport at major conventions. It's been a hell of a ride and it was great fun hearing about the highs and lows. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people t...

After Anthony Joshua beat Andy Ruiz to regain his WBA, IBF and WBO Heavyweight titles at the Diriyah Arena in Saudi Arabia me and Matt Macklin sat down in the hotel lobby and canvassed the thoughts, opinions and recollections of a Who’s Who of boxing afficionados. Carl Froch, Tony Bellew, Spencer Oliver, Eddie Hearn, Dave Coldwell, Adam Smith, Anna Woolhouse and Kugan Cassius all joined us to look...

Ahead of Ruiz vs Joshua myself and Mr Macklin sat down with Rob McCracken, AJ’s trainer and a long-time friend of Matt’s. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking about Marx, and occasionally Marx himself....Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify The Noco Moto Motorcycle PodcastHosts MotoGPete and Swiggy are on a mission to discuss, rate, ride, and philosophize...Listen on: Apple P...

Me and Matt Macklin are in Saudi Arabia and bring you an all-singing, all-dancing Ruiz vs AJ preview with an array of star guests: Dave Coldwell, Tom Little, Dean Whyte, Gerald Washington and, last but certainly not least, Barry Hearn. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking about Marx, and occasionally Marx himself....Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify The Noco Moto Motorcycl...

Frank Smith started his Matchroom career handing out leaflets at Romford train station. Little did he realise that not much more than 10 years later he'd be chief exec at one of the biggest promotional companies in world boxing. It's been a hell of a ride and Frank joined me and Matt Macklin to share a few of the highs and lows. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking about Mar...

Self-belief is crucial for all athletes; without it you’ll get nowhere. Nobody knows that better than Johnny Nelson and this week Johnny joins me & Matt Macklin and tells us how he managed to find the inner strength to ignore the doubters, and after a very rocky start to his pro career, fight his way to a world title. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking about Marx, and occa...

This week myself & Matt Macklin are joined by one of Matt’s old taskmasters, British Boxing’s Trainer of the Year Joe Gallagher. A proud Mancunian, Joe’s never afraid to say what he thinks and shone a light on some important issues within boxing as well as illuminating just how difficult life in sport’s public eye can be. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking about Marx, and...

This week myself & Matt Macklin have the great pleasure of presenting to you, King Kalle Unplugged. An hour of pure, unbridled honesty from the top promoter Kalle Sauerland. It was an absolute pleasure. “I’ll never do a podcast at night” he says, well we’ll have to see about that next time. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking about Marx, and occasionally Marx himself....Lis...

Glenn McCrory is not the kind of man you meet every day. After becoming the North East’s first ever world boxing champion he’s now aiming to become the first world boxing champ to summit Everest and stand on the top of the world. His has been a life well and truly lived; from turning up to spar Tyson in a vest and Bermuda shorts to being ringside at the world’s biggest fights, it was a pleasure fo...

The mid to late 90s was a hell of a time to be young. It was the era of Britpop and Cool Britannia and boxing was booming. Nowhere more so that at Sheffield’s Ingle gym. Joining us this week is a man who was in the middle of it all, the Spice Boy himself Ryan Rhodes.  Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking about Marx, and occasionally Marx himself....Listen on: Apple Podcasts...

Cherrelle Brown was an outstanding amateur and as a pro is now unbeaten at 6-0 and WBC International Super Lightweight champion. With that resume you could be forgiven for thinking that success always has and always will come easily to her. But you’d be wrong. The world of professional boxing as a novice pro is a battleground, a treacherous landscape laden with pitfalls and trapdoors. Cherrelle jo...

By popular demand Macklin’s Take Franchise Champion Andy Lee re-joins me and Matt this week. It’s been 6 months since we last spoke to him and a lot’s happened in that time. Andy’s taken the plunge as a trainer and manager so we talk to him about that, Tyson Fury, AJ vs Ruiz and Top Rank’s imminent arrival on the UK promotional scene. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking abo...

Former WBO Super Featherweight champ Barry Jones is one of the best boxing pundits on the circuit. And he’s very good company too so me & Matt Macklin decided to pay him a visit at Bunter’s Café, or Barry’s Corner, as he likes to call it, to see how the transition from fighter to analyst happened for him and to discuss TV coverage of the sport and how he sees his role in it. Desire + CapitalRyan a...

Every fighter needs a good corner, and every good corner needs a good cutman. So this week on Macklin’s Take me & Matt Macklin sought out one of the best in the business in Mark Seltzer and discovered just what his job entails and what the view is like from the inside of huge fights involving the likes of AJ and Froch. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking about Marx, and occ...

Boxing clubs are the lifeblood of the sport, often the lifeblood of their local community. Tucked away under railway arches, perched above pubs, nestled on estates, they play a crucial role in saving and shaping lives. So this week on Macklin's Take me and Matt Macklin decided to head down to Fitzroy Lodge in South London to talk to head coach Mark Reigate about the unique challenges and rewards o...

This week myself and Matt Macklin sit down with one of the sport's truly fascinating characters, Mr Al Siesta. Having moved to England after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Al, via a successful music career, has manoeuvred his way in his own inimitable style into his current position as one of the sport's influential inside men. A promoter, manager, matchmaker, agent and fixer he is truly boxing...

This week me and Matt are joined by Peter Fury who tells us what life is like for young men in the travelling community and why fighting is such a big part of traveller culture. He has plenty of stories form life on the road and in the ring and lucky for us he was very happy to share them. Desire + CapitalRyan and Jamie talking about people talking about Marx, and occasionally Marx himself....List...

This week myself and Matt are joined by former 2-weight world champion and Sky colleague Paulie Malignaggi. Paulie's one of the most articulate and insightful pundits in the sport and he gave us his verdict on just how healthy the sport of boxing really is. The New York gym scene, the small halls, the PED crisis, Broadcasting and promotional wars, we covered the lot and the Magic Man had plenty to...

Peter Buckley is the original King of the Journeymen. He had 300 fights but there's barely a scratch on him. He'd have it with anyone, anywhere, at any notice, only ever turning down one fight and that was because he was injured from a street fight he'd had earlier that day! Naz, Acelino Freitas, he wasn't bothered, names meant nothing to The Professor. And as a 2 weight Area champion he could box...

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." It's a mantra you see written on gym walls the world over. So how hard does an elite fighter have to work? And do today's elite fighters work hard enough? Are there too many people involved in a fighter's training now? What do they all do? Top trainer Jim McDonnell joined me and Matt to discuss all of this and more.  Desire + CapitalRyan and...

Cello Renda's not the kind of man you meet every day. After knocking out a couple of rugby players in a street fight he turned pro at 18 with no amateur experience, no trainer and took the hard road, travelling all over the country to spar and learn on the job vs elite fighters. One of those fighters was a certain Matthew Macklin, who describes him as one of the hardest punchers he's ever faced. C...