Matthew Macklin will face middleweight king Sergio Martinez on March 17 in Madison Square Gardens in New York it was announced yesterday evening.
The Birmingham fighter recently moved out to America after a controversial split decision loss to WBA champion Felix Sturm and has been campaigning for a showdown with Martinez.
Macklin, who has Irish heritage, had always stated that he wanted the fight to take place t on St. Patrick's Day and he has got his wish as he takes on the man widely regarded as one of the best pound-or-pound fighters in the world.
"The press conference was absolutely packed out today, I couldn't believe it," Macklin said. "It was huge. It brings it home how big this is. Felix Sturm is a big deal over in Germany but this was a different level.
"Coming face-to-face with Martinez, he comes across as a nice, humble, friendly kind of guy and you can't read too much into it.
"Actions speak louder than words anyway so you can't gauge whether he's nervous or not, or whether he's looking past me, just from that.
"I don't think he is under-estimating me, though, from what he was saying today. Over Christmas there was the talk of him fighting Julio Cesar Chavez Jr but now this fight is on with me, he's focused on it.
"Obviously he thinks he's going to win but I think he knows he is in a real fight."
Macklin will take confidence from the performance of fellow Brit Darren Barker who matched Martinez for at least eight rounds, before eventually running out of steam and getting knocked out in the 11th round.
The fight was confirmed by promoter Lou DiBella who represents both fighters as well as Irish middleweight Andy Lee who will feature on the New York card, as well as Northern Irish super-bantamweight Carl Frampton.
