Macklin outpoints Russ to return to winning ways as Rigondeaux dismantles Agbeko

By Martin Domin  -   dailymail.co.uk

As one British middleweight was dethroned as world champion on Saturday night, another kept alive his hopes of a third title shot.

Darren Barker lost his title to Felix Sturm in Stuttgart after dislocating his hip during a second-round stoppage defeat.

But almost 4,000 miles away in Atlantic City, Matthew Macklin returned to winning ways by outpointing Lamar Russ.

Return to winning ways: Matthew Macklin outpointed Lamar Russ over 10 rounds in Atlantic City

The Birmingham-born Irishman was a comfortable winner on the scorecards by margins of 96-94, 98-92 and 97-93.

Mackin had lost three of his last four fights including world title challenges to Sturm and the hard-hitting Gennady Golovkin and to the premier middleweight Sergio Martinez.

His sole victory in the last three years was a one-round blowout of Joachim Alcine last September.

But despite not being at his best, he was always in control against Russ who was a late replacement for the injured Willie Nelson.

Easy pickings: Guillermo Rigondeaux (right) won every round against Joseph Agbeko to retain his titles

Macklin was teaming up with former rival-cum-trainer Jamie Moore for the first time, seven years after their epic British title clash. He is now expected to face fellow Irishman Andy Lee, possibly on St Patrick's Day.

On the same card, Guillermo Rigondeaux produced a masterclass to retain his WBO and WBA world super-bantamweight titles with a landslide victory over Agbeko.

The Cuban defector won every round on all three scorecards in his first fight since his biggest triumph to date against Nonito Donaire in April.

He said: 'Every time out there, I try to improve. I'm improving every day. I had no problems in any round.'

Source:  www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-2520136/Matthew-Macklin-beats-Lamar-Russ-Guillermo-Rigondeaux-beats-Joseph-Agbeko.html