After enduring a frustrating 2014, British middleweight Matthew Macklin will attempt to end the year on a high on Saturday night when he faces Jorge Sebastian Heiland in an eliminator for the WBC title.
Macklin has failed on the three occasions in which he has fought for world honours, but victory over the highly-ranked Argentine would give him the opportunity to land a meeting with Miguel Cotto at some point in 2015.
Unified world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko also returns to action this weekend when he defends his titles against unbeaten Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev.
Below, Sports Mole takes a look at each encounter while attempting to predict who will prevail in Dublin and Hamburg respectively.
1. Matthew Macklin vs. Jorge Sebastian Heiland
After he defeated American Lamar Russ at the end of last year, 2014 was considered to be one of opportunity for Macklin after he had put himself back in the world mix having previously been stopped by Gennady Golovkin in three rounds during the summer.
However, after his scheduled meeting with Daniel Geale fell through and a previously-arranged showdown with Heiland was cancelled due to trainer Jamie Moore being shot in Marbella, the 32-year-old had to be content with a minor eight-round outing in Germany in September. However, with ring-rust present in his performance, it could prove to be a blessing in disguise as he prepares for Heiland this weekend.
Getting just eight rounds under his belt in 11 months is far from ideal for Macklin but it gave him the stage to shake off the cobwebs before the bigger challenge that lay in wait for him, while also providing replacement trainer Joe Gallagher with the chance to assess his fighter before coming up with a gameplan against an opponent who isn't expected to give Macklin a moment's peace.
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That's the kind of duel that Macklin would have savoured a couple of years ago but the Birmingham-born fighter is a more seasoned operator now and he should have added more strings to his bow after sharing a ring with the likes of Sergio Martinez and Golovkin. He didn't win a world strap from those matches but it gave him a feel of the biggest nights that can occur within his boxing career, and that's something that he will have over Heiland in Dublin.
The South American is ranked highly with the WBC but he has come up short when he has fought for some of the organisation's lower-level belts. The 27-year-old has also only competed once in Europe, which saw him fall to a points defeat to former world title challenger Sebastian Zbik.
Heiland is regarded as an aggressive, come-forward fighter but he hasn't shared a ring with someone who has fought the very best in the division. Heiland will take confidence from Macklin's performance in September, but it's yet to be seen whether that was merely complacency and a lack of enthusiasm on the Irish representative's part or if it was a notable decline in his capabilities to compete at the highest level.
The opening rounds will likely see Heiland put pressure on Macklin, forcing the home fighter onto the back foot, but the contest will be won and lost on Macklin's ability to soak up the pressure during the middle rounds in an attempt to discourage his opponent. If he can do that effectively, Macklin should win, but if Heiland still has the Brit on the defensive at the start of the championship rounds, this eliminator can go either way.
2. Wladimir Klitschko vs. Kubrat Pulev
Wladimir Klitschko's choice of opponents during the past five years has provided an ongoing debate that he hand-picks his foes over wishing to give opportunities to the next breed of heavyweight challengers, and after he dominated a limited Alex Leapai in April, calls intensified for the boxing legend to pit himself against knockout specialist Deontay Wilder.
The prospect of that happening never made it into second gear but Klitschko's defence against Pulev is one that has, to some extent, whetted the appetite of heavyweight boxing followers, despite Klitschko starting their meeting as the heavy favourite to prevail.
In sharp contrast to Klitschko's last opponent, Pulev has a number of credible wins on his record. After inflicting a first defeat on Alexander Dimitrenko, Pulev dominated Alexander Ustinov before going on to out-point Tony Thompson in August 2013, although Thompson did have some success before fading badly in the second half of the match.
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Nevertheless, that triumph secured Pulev his shot at Klitschko, who would have had to vacate his IBF title had he chose to avoid the 20-fight challenger. That was something that was never realistically going to happen, though, as Wladimir has eyes on completing the set of heavyweight belts if he can tempt Bermane Stiverne or Wilder into a unification clash should he get past Pulev.
While the size difference isn't as extreme as against Alexander Povetkin, it would come as a surprise if Klitschko fought a different style of fight to that one. Povetkin's strengths in that bout were neutralised by Klitschko holding at every given opportunity which, in truth, saw the match turn into a bit of a farce, but, as well as his superior reach, it was effective and unless you possess the power to trouble Klitschko, it's difficult to change the champion's approach.
It remains to be seen whether Pulev can land anything of note on Klitschko's chin, but if he can't breach the defences of the Ukrainian, and find a response to being locked up by his opponent, this has a points win for the title holder written all over it.
Darren Plant
