Sergio Martinez defends the world middleweight championship tonight on HBO and Sky Sports, with the card starting at 10 p.m. EDT, and he's facing half-Irish Matthew Macklin of Birmingham, England, in front of a crowd that could well be very pro-Macklin in New York City on St. Patrick's Day.

But no matter who the crowd pulls for tonight, it's expected Macklin is in big trouble, and will simply be the latest of three straight Europeans to come to America and find themselves outclassed by the reigning champ from Argentina.

Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KO) stopped both Serhiy Dzinziruk and Darren Barker last year (Darren Baker if you're Michael Buffer or Todd Grisham), while Macklin is coming off a very good performance and highly-disputed loss to Felix Sturm last June, after which he pursued a rematch before ultimately signing with DiBella Entertainment and making the move to the United States.

In the HBO co-feature, a 10-round super middleweight bout, Edwin Rodriguez is favored at -325 and -270 over Don George, who is at +250 and +230.