Matthew Macklin will become the latest in a long line of Irishmen to make the journey to America in pursuit of boxing glory when he teams up with esteemed trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr.

Over the years, the likes of Jerry Quarry, Tom Sharkey, Steve Collins and Bernard Dunne have crossed the Atlantic, while current fighters Bernard Dunne, John Duddy, Andy Lee and James Moore have all spent extended spells in the States working at their craft.

Macklin recently split with trainer Billy Graham after finding himself in limbo and playing second fiddle to Mancunian superstar Ricky Hatton at the Phoenix Gym.

And the 25-year-old Brummie decided the time is right to head across the pond to step up his bid for world honours in the middleweight division.

As for the reason for his parting from Graham, Macklin told PA Sport: "Billy had taken me as far as he was going to take me in one sense, and to be honest he was all around Ricky Hatton, which was obviously understandable, no problem there.

"But he's got to understand that my career can't stall and be on the back burner every time Ricky has a fight.

"So we were just going different ways. I want to box five or six times this year, I want it to be a big year, I feel for my talent I should be further up the ladder.

"It's not a problem because I'm only 25, which is young, but it's not 18 young either. The years are flying by.

"I want to be world champion when I'm 27, 28, so I've got a few years. I don't want to be world champion when I'm 31 and my best years are behind me.

"When I went to him a few years ago, he definitely taught me a lot, he gave me better head movement, footwork, a lot of things. It's good to have but it had probably got to the stage he had added everything he was going to add."

Macklin fights Frenchman Christophe Karagoz in Limerick on Saturday and will head straight to Las Vegas next week to link up with new trainer Mayweather.

The middleweight, born in Birmingham to Irish parents, revealed a piece of advice from a friend prompted the move to Mayweather's camp where Macklin hopes to work on his boxing skills rather than simply power and endurance.

"Billy's style of fighting was okay for Ricky Hatton but it didn't really suit me," Macklin said.

"I've got a good jab, boxing skills, and there can't be too many trainers better than Floyd Mayweather when it comes to that.

"Obviously I have spoken to Floyd, he knows I am going. But Oscar De La Hoya (who is trained by Mayweather) is on about fighting three times this year so there might be an element where I'm going out of the cauldron and into the fire in terms of availability of trainer.

"From what I've been told and what I've heard, Floyd is a lot more hands-on and a lot more dedicated as a trainer; if he's training someone, he's training them."

Macklin admits the logistics of the relationship will only become clear over time - he wants to keep fighting in Britain and Ireland long-term, but realises he is not yet in a position to insist upon his new trainer following him around the world.

He said: "I'm really not going to know until I get out there. He seems very enthusiastic about me going out there on the phone.

"It might be the case that my next fight after this one is in America. I think once I've had a couple of wins with him he'll get the excitement - not about where I'm at, but where I'm going to go.

"When I get a couple of wins over there and he sees good performances and thinks that I can become a world champion, then when you say 'Floyd, this fight is in Ireland', or 'this fight is in Birmingham', he's on board then, isn't he."

Fighting in America will not be a new experience for Macklin - three years ago he enjoyed wins in New Jersey and Philadelphia - and he hopes that basing himself over there will enable him to really push himself up the middleweight world rankings."I went over there in 2005 and fought in Atlantic City and Philadelphia," he said.

"I went down well and liked it there, but the only thing was at that time I was very very happy where I was with Billy Graham in the gym.

"And with the expenses, you weren't making anything. If I was going to do it, I would have had to live and train out there. Now, because I'm going to train out there, it isn't going to be a problem."

Macklin is understandably enthusiastic about the impending new chapter in his career - and is happy for forego a post-fight rest to head instead straight to his new coach's Nevada base.

"As long as I come through Saturday with no injuries, I'm going to go next week," he said.

"There's no point wasting time, I want to get out there as soon as possible."

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