Boxing Profile: Enzo Maccarinelli

Big Hopes On “Big Mac”

With two of the biggest and most accomplished names in British boxing right now coming towards the end of their careers, the majority of the British fans seemed to all be looking in the direction of the quick handed, undefeated Olympic Silver Medallist, Amir Khan as the future star of British boxing.

For some time, Joe Calzaghe alone had flown the flag for Brittons on the world scene of boxing before “The pride of Wales ” was joined by Manchester ’s Ricky Hatton with his stoppage of the undisputed light welter king Kostya Tszyu in June, 2005.

Since then, both fighters have firmly established themselves in the pound for pound ratings world wide, with the flawless destruction of Jeff Lacy by Calzaghe and the relentless body punching of Hatton that forced ring legend Joe Louis Castillo to crumble in jut four rounds.

But, as we head into the second half of 2007, both fighters are nearing the end of their careers, Calzaghe wanting just 2-3 more fights, and Hatton’s trainer Billy Graham wanting Ricky to call it a day after his hopefull “Megafight” with pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr; It leaves us all asking who the next star of British boxing will be?

Ever since he turned pro back in 2005, the British fans and experts all had big hopes on Amir Khan as the one to represent and fly the flag for the British on the world scene. They were tipping him for greatness not long after his pro debut, and it seemed the fans were right behind him.

Although a young but exciting Khan wasn’t headlining any events, there were no doubts that the young lad from Bolton was the reason the venues were being sold out when he was on the bill.

Whilst Danny Williams, Audley Harrison and Matt Skelton were said to be the headliners, the ones who should be drawing in the crowds, it was evident by the reception that they received when entering the ring, compared to the one that Khan was getting, that Amir was the one stealing the show, the one who as brining in the punters.

It seemed as though they weren’t alone in the matter either. Just prior to Khan’s last fight, ITV had made the move to secure him as their marquee fighter for another 12 months, and with Khan’s promoter putting him in with an already established domestic fighter in Willie Limond, it seemed Khan was soon to be released onto the world scene to challenge for honors at a world level.

But in just a matter of seconds in the fifth round against Limond, Amir Khan went from being on the verge of joining Calzaghe and Hatton onto the world scene, to a young lad looking up from the seat of his shorts at a soft hitting domestic fighter who had just taught him a very humbling lesson.

Khan obviously still has a future and he showed great heart to get up and win the fight, but there is a hell of a lot of work to be done before he makes an impact on the world scene.

So with Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton looking both to be nearing the end of their careers, and Britain realizing Khan is about as close to a world title shot as Junior Witter is at a shot at Ricky Hatton, who can step up to take centre stage and represent the UK?

With big hopes, enter “Big Mac”.

Enzo Maccarinelli, 27-1 (20), already a world champion, last week took centre stage and gave the hopeful British fans something special.

Maccarinelli gave a performance to let the fans know there is someone out there to get your attention, someone out there that you make a point of being in front of a TV on a Saturday night to watch fight.

Whether it be at home with a few friends, amongst the crowd at your local, or whether your you just pulled the groom out of his own wedding reception to watch the “big fight”, as I had last Saturday, either wa,y everyone likes an exciting fighter, a big hitter a personality.

Coming off two first round knock outs in his previous two fights, the Welshman was taking a major step up in fighting the hard hitting Guyana native, and former world champion, Wayne “Big Truck” Braithwaite.

Maccarinelli won the WBO interim cruiserweight title by scoring a ninth round TKO over Marcelo Fabian Dominguez. Dominguez forced Maccarinelli into a tough and close fight until the power of “Big Mac” came through in the ninth, stopping the previously unstoppable Argentine in the ninth.

Enzo was next due to fight Johnny Nelson for the full WBO belt, but with “The Entertainer” pulling out for a second time and Enzo had his interim belt upgraded to the real thing, defending twice against former foe Mark Hobson and former bare knuckle boxer Bobby Gunn, with both fights ending in first round knockouts.

But now was the time for Big Mac to take a big step, to take centre stage against an established name, and headline a fight for the first time as a world champion.

Most of the boxing world and British experts expected the clash of “Big Mac” vs “Big Truck” to be decided by who got the KO punch off first. Many expected boxing to go out of the window in the clash, and them to both going looking for that one big punch to end it on their terms.

No one could seem to agree on who would be the winner, as is the case when two big hitters collide, even the better boxer on paper can slip up, get caught and get knocked out.

Even Enzo himself told me a few days before the fight to not blink, that he was looking to end it fast in the first round. Maybe he had heard Calzaghe say “You don’t get paid for overtime in boxing” too many times, maybe he liked getting paid for doing less than three minutes work as in his last two fights, or maybe, just maybe, he, like every other hitter, liked to knock guys out for the hell of it?

Either way, this fight had fireworks written all over it, and come fight night, it had the excitement that everyone wanted, but it came in a way that not many had predicted.

With this fight having two guys with unquestionable power, but Enzo having a chin that did have a question mark over it, the fight was meant to be full of knockdowns, one fighters staggering around the ring, the crowd on their feet screaming support for their guy to keep going or get back up, but it didn’t quite go like that.

Yes, there were big punches, yes there was a knock down, and yes, the crowd was going crazy, but what really stole the show was Maccarinelli with his overall boxing skill.

This fight reminded me somewhat of the night Calzaghe destroyed Lacy in Manchester, a fight that was everything you wanted, but nothing what you expected.

Like Calzaghe had done, on Saturday, July 21, Enzo Maccarinelli answered every question that had been asked about him. The big one has always been his chin. He has been stopped once as a 17 year old fighting in his fourth professional fight, and hurt a couple times later on and because of that, people seemed to label him a fighter with a bit of a glass jaw.

Now, I’m not sure what you will be basing a “jaw” on, but to me, a jaw is 80% defense and the other 20% being natural resistance. Yes, in boxing we have had the super humans, guys like Haggler and Holyfield, guys who took punches no boxer should be able to take and keep coming back; they were blessed.

But no matter how great your jaw is, if you don’t have the defense, the ability to not get consistently hit, you’re going to go down, you’re going to be staggered, you’re going to get hurt.

And since moving to Enzo Calzaghe’s Newbridge gym, there has been a vast improvement Big Mac’s conditioning, his boxing ability and his defense, all things that can be the difference from a fighter getting knocked out, to being a fighter walking out with another W in his column.

Going by last Saturday, where he got in the ring with “Big Truck” and didn’t go down, didn’t get staggered and never once looked trouble by taking shots up top, I would have to say I’m right. Either that, or Enzo has had a steel plat screwed in to protect his jaw.

But with the question of his jaw prior to the fight being something that seemed unjust, there was another injustice that sadly most big hitters get labeled with. “Can they box?”

Enzo had gone the distance before, but until his bout with Braithwaite, he had yet to do it against a guy at world level. There had been some who had labeled him as one dimensional, someone who’s power had saved him in close fights. But a one sided unanimous decision over Braithwaite showed that Big Mac could box at the highest level against an established fighter, a former WBC champion who tested Jean Mormeck over 12 rounds.

Maccarinelli might have dropped “Big Truck,” but he had to wait until the end of the twelvfth round before he got his victory, and he had to do it with a badly damaged right hand for the most of it too.

The sharpness, the movement, the jab, the all-round performance showed just how far he has come along, just how much work has been put in at the gym in between fights.

With Hobson and Gunn both falling in the first round, anyone out side of the Newbridge Gym has had no chance just to see the boxer who showed up and the Cardiff international arena. No longer just a puncher, Maccarinelli can box, and damn well too!

At 6 foot 4 and comfortably making the 200 pound limit, it looks like Maccarinelli is going to be at cruiser for some time, bad news for the guys who are currently fighting there.

There are big hopes that Enzo will finally get a shot at the IBF belt that he has been chasing for sometime, with Steve Cunningham now free to fight whomever he wants next, let’s hope Dong King doesn’t try and keep the belt in his own stable.

Mormeck is scheduled to fight David Haye next for the WBC/WBA belt, so what we need next is for Cunningham to step up, and let us get the WBO and IBF consolidated, leaving a clash between the winners of Mormeck and Haye to fight the winner of Cunningham vs Maccarinelli.

As long as politics don’t get in the way of things, and Big Mac keeps working hard, I see no reason why he won’t be The Ring Champion before the end of 2008.

There is already talk of a clash between him and Cunningham on the undercard of Calzaghe vs Kessler in November, plenty of time for Enzo to make a pointless mandatory that the IBF are certain to throw his way before he meets the winner of Haye vs Mormeck in late 2008.