Macklin ready to face World Beaters

British middleweight champion Matt Macklin says he'll be ready to take on the best in the world by the end of 2009. "The Mack" underlined his potential earlier this year with a stunning stoppage win over former world title challenger Wayne Elcock. And he'll be looking to make another major statement when he defends his title as part of the undercard to Amir Khan's WBA light-welterweight title challenge against Andreas Kotelnik on June 27 at London's O2 Arena."Kelly Pavlik and Arthur Abraham are very good fighters, but both are beatable, they are no Floyd Mayweathers" said Macklin of the two best talents at 160 pounds. "Pavlik is big at the weight, has got a great chin and punches hard, but if you use your jab and sit in the pocket you can beat him, although it wouldn't be an easy night's work. "You would struggle to find anyone at the moment who would say that I could beat him and rightly so, but by the time a fight like that happens, if I can step up a level or two then I will be ready. "By this time next year they are the type of fights I want to be having." Meanwhile Macklin, 27, says he is benefiting from being a professional for nearly a decade, after joining the paid ranks as a teenager in 2001. "A lot of great Mexican fighters have been a professional for a long time before they hit the top," said the Brummie. "I have had my problems with injuries and various other things, but I've learned from everything and I feel close to my best right now. "I still don't think I've lost to a fighter who was better than me. Jamie Moore was fantastic when he stopped me, but I fought the wrong fight. "I took on Andrew Facey when I was very inexperienced and it was my first 10 rounder, and I think the timing was probably wrong in retrospect. "But someone like Naseem Hamed was a world champion at 21 and then finished by 27. "Different fighters mature at different rates, and I'm coming into my own right now, and I'm about to have a very big 12 months."