MATTHEW MACKLIN vs. SERGIO "MARAVILLA" MARTINEZ on Saturday, March 17 - St. Patrick's Day at The Theater at Madison Square Garden

The card which will be aired live on HBO's "World Championship Boxing is entitled, "THE REAL Middleweight Championship - Get Your Irish Up", features Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez (48-2-2, 27KO's) defending his middleweight crown against Ireland's Matthew "Mack the Knife" Macklin (28-3, 19KO's). The card is promoted by DiBella Entertainment and will be shown live on HBO beginning 10PM ET/7PM PT.

MATTHEW MACKLIN: I've had a great camp, sparring has been terrific and most of the hard work has been done at this point. The next few weeks now are just about fine tuning and peaking for fight night. It's been great working with Buddy again. He's a very knowledgeable boxing guy so it's great to soak that up. I'm ready for war and whatever happens in that ring. No matter if it goes one round or twelve, I don't believe Martinez is going to be able to cope with the intensity and burning desire that I will bring into that ring with me at Madison Square Garden on St. Patrick's Day.

BUDDY MCGIRT: Matthew is in great shape for this fight. I've worked with him for the Yori Boy Campas fight a few years back so I've been aware for a long time just how good he is. We're not going to shout or boast about doing this or that. Matthew's just going to go in there and let his fists do the talking. I must say though that I am very confident that he is going to shock an awful lot of people in this fight.

LAR CORBETT: It's been a great experience to spend a few days with Matthew and see his preparations up close and personal. Myself and Eoin are very grateful to Brian Peters (Macklin co-promoter) and Martin Donnelly (Macklin Sponsor) for the opportunity to come over. Matthew is training like a demon for this fight and the level of effort and dedication he puts into his boxing has to be seen to be believed. Matthew has always been a great supporter of Tipperary Hurling over the years, through thick and thin, so we felt it was only fair that we return that support. There is huge interest in this fight back in Tipperary. I know there are loads of people traveling over to New York for the fight but for the people not traveling over, they will be glued to the television and the whole country of Ireland is behind him.

EOIN KELLY: I've known Matthew since we played hurling together as kids and it's great to see him living his dream now on the big stage. The hype in the US for the fight is phenomenal. There are big billboards in Times Square and huge media interest in the fight, but Matthew seems to take it all in stride. We came over to show our support to him because it's an absolutely massive night, not just for Matthew but for all of Ireland to have someone competing at that level, fighting a guy considered to be up there with the likes of Mayweather and Pacquiao on St. Patrick's Day at Madison Square Garden.

On hand to show their support for Macklin were Irish Hurling stars Eion Kelly (right of Macklin in the Photo) and Lar Corbett (left of Macklin in the photo), who had made the trip over from Ireland earlier this week and have been touring the city with Macklin to rally together the heavy Irish community throughout the New York area to come out and support Macklin on March 17.

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