by David P. Greisman

Three-time middleweight title challenger Matthew Macklin was taken into police custody in Ireland last week on “public order offenses,” though he received a caution from authorities instead of being charged with a crime, according to Irish newspaper The Herald.

The article, citing an anonymous source, said Macklin “got involved in a bit of a scrap and had to be arrested … and was released a few hours later.” The article’s writer — the newspaper’s crime correspondent — then decided to spend several sentences connecting Macklin to people and places involved in organized crime, even though there was no indication that this information had anything to do with the alleged offense for which Macklin was not charged.

At least the writer did note that Macklin “has no involvement in crime.”

Macklin, 32, lost to Felix Sturm by controversial split decision in June 2011, to Sergio Martinez by late stoppage in March 2012, and to Gennady Golovkin by body-shot knockout in June 2013. He returned in December, outpointing Lamar Russ on HBO to move to 30-5 with 20 knockouts.

He had initially been scheduled to face Daniel Geale on May 24 in Texas, but when headlining heavyweight Mike Perez pulled out with a reported injury ahead of a clash with Bryant Jennings, the entire card was canceled. Perez-Jennings will end up as the undercard co-feature to the July 26 fight between Golovkin and Geale.

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