JUST DAYS AFTER Matthew Macklin dismissed speculation surrounding his impending retirement by announcing a fight in Birmingham in May, the boxer has revealed his shock at being caught up in a Garda raid on Thursday.

Macklin, who is in Dublin as part of a charity event in aid of the Ireland team heading to the Homeless World Cup, was staying in an apartment belonging to “a friend of a friend of a friend” when it was raided by Gardaí as part of a major operation yesterday morning.

Macklin told The Star:

“We were caught up in this completely innocently. I’m over here to take part in a charity gig and I was going to stay in the city but a friend of a friend of a friend said he had a place in Citywest and told me I could stay there.

“I was like something you’d see in a film when you see the FBI storming the house.”

Macklin is due to fight in Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena on 9 May – though no opponent has been named for the bout – despite widespread rumors he would announce his retirement from the sport this month.

It will be Macklin’s first outing since he was stopped by Jorge Sebastian Heiland on his Dublin homecoming in the 3Arena in November.

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