Exclusive Boxing Interview: Enzo Maccarinelli

Fresh off his stunning 12 round victory over one of the most dangerous cruiserweights in the world, WBO Cruiserweight Champion Enzo “Big Mac” Maccarinelli, 27-1 (20), took time out once again to sit down with SaddoBoxing to talk about his fight with Wayne “Big Truck” Braithwaite, a possible future show down with IBF champion Steve Cunningham and much, much more.

Click for larger image © Rhun Leeding Saddo Boxing

SaddoBoxing: How pleased were you with your performance against Braithwaite?

Enzo Maccarinelli: “I was very pleased. It was a bit of a hindrance where obviously I damaged the right hand. A lot of people thought I done it in the fight, I done it actually on the pads before I went into the fight. It was a strain on it [the right hand] and I cracked him in the second round with a right hand and I felt a lot of pain there.

“But it didn’t trouble me that much, it stopped me throwing as many as I wanted to throw, it took that weapon away from me. On the whole, I’ve got to be happy. 12 rounds comfortably against one of the most dangerous cruiserweights in the world, and I beat him in every round.”

SB: Before the fight, obviously you wanted to knock him out, but looking back now, do you think it was better for you to have shown the world that you can outbox one of the best at your weight over 12 rounds?

EM: “Yeah, a lot of people have called me just a puncher, and by all means, if I end the rest of my fights in the first round for the rest of my career, who am I to complain? It does bother me in the fact when people say all I can do in the ring is just punch, but Braithwaite was said to come and out box me, out punch me, had to much strength for me, and you know I really done a number on him.

“He said so after that he had never boxed anyone as good as me, he said ‘When I fought Mormeck, I didn’t train’, he said, ‘I was bored of winning, I didn’t train properly, but for you I trained to be the best I could be and you did that to me’. So you know, its nice to hear.”

SB: Did his southpaw style cause you any trouble? Or has all the sparring you have done with Joe Calzaghe made his southpaw style insignificant?

EM: “I have never had problems with southpaws, whenever I sparred or boxed with one, their style has never caused me any problems. Obviously, when I’m sparring Joe, I have got the best southpaw in the world. You know, the hand speed on him is phenomenal, and you know, the way I look at it is if I can catch Joe and slips some of his shots, then Braithwaite wasn’t going to be a problem, as it showed on the night. Don’t get me wrong, Braithwaite did get through with a couple, but on the whole I slipped a lot and blocked a lot.”

SB: You showed you can take the big shots and outbox a classy boxer; What’s next? Unification with Cunningham?

EM: “Well you know, I spoken to Frank Warren, that’s the one he wants, that’s the one I want and hopefully we can get it. He’s probably a bit slicker than Braithwaite, but, on the other side of things, he’s pretty straightforward. Braithwaite isn’t straightforward, he throws at funny angles, he switches a lot, and as it happens, he confused me a lot more when he turned orthodox than when he was southpaw. But hopefully, Cunningham will be the one. IBF title, WBO title on the line on the undercard of the Calzaghe vs. Kessler bill, cracking, can’t wait!

SB: Cunningham has recently been quoted in saying he was no Wayne Braithwaite, that you had never fought a Steve Cunningham before, how do you respond?

EM: “He never fought Braithwaite; he can say what ever he wants. It’s going down the same road as people who are always commenting about me as a banger, do you know what I mean? No one has commented on me as a boxer, and he hasn’t seen me fight Braithwaite. Don King, everyone in America thought Braithwaite was going to come here and smash me up, that all I am is a chinny banger, you know I proved them wrong, and comprehensively I done it.

“Steve Cunningham can shout his mouth off as much as he likes, its not in my style to go around slagging him off. I haven’t seen too much of Cunningham to be honest, I seen his fight with [Sebastiaan] Rothmann and the two with [Krzysztof] Wlodarczyk, he done nothing that really impressed me. So yeah, I look forward with that, I want to challenge the best, I didn’t have to take the fight with Braithwaite, I wanted to shut a few people up and hopefully I did.”

SB: Hopefully, you will be fighting an American champ shown on American TV on the Calzaghe vs. Kessler undercard next. Do you think that will help with your goal of headlining a main event at Madison Square Garden?

EM: “Yeah, it’s on the way isn’t it? That’s ideally what I’d like to do, everyone knows how much of a fan I am of this sport. I love the sport, I love all contact sports, but boxing is number 1 for me. My ultimate aim would be to headline against whoever at Madison Square Garden.”

SB: You’re set to be the chief supporting undercard for the Calzaghe vs. Kessler undercard in front of 60,000 plus fans; what was it like fighting in front of 35,000 fans the last time you were at the Millennium Stadium?

EM: “If I’m totally honest with you Rob, you don’t really notice, you don’t. Obviously, you hear the noise, you hear the crowd, but you don’t really notice how many people are there. I’m a professional, you’ve seen me at the end of a fight, I never raise my hand before the final bell, I just get on with the job. I train hard for 10, 12 weeks, do everything right and then it all comes down for those 36 minutes. It’s mad how good I feel when that bell rings, you know I’m up for it!”

SB: Evander Holyfield is you idol, the last man to unify the cruiserweight division; how important is it for you to emulate what he did?

EM: “Not so much emulate, but to unify the division, then I can actually start calling myself the best. There are three champions out there: me, Mormeck and Cunningham and each of them are trying to proclaim that he is the best. I have never gone on record as saying I’m the best. I can’t say I’m the best because I haven’t beaten the other champions.

“They all say they are the best, but to be the best they got to come through me, and you know that’s what I want to do, hold all the belts. You know, you can call yourself the best then, you are the number one, and then on the other side of things, I achieved what my idol [Evander Holyfield] achieved, so hopefully it can be done.”

SB: Do you think Holyfield can beat Ibragimov to become a five time world champion?

EM: “How many times have you seen Holyfield written off before fights, and he just shocked people? Ibragimov is nothing special. I think what’s going to cause Holyfield problems with his age is Ibragimov’s work rate, and if he fights out in Moscow. But you know, you never know with Evander, he’s fighting for the WBO title. If I step up to heavyweight and he wins….you know, it would be a dream for me.”

SB: Finally, Gavin Rees just became the third world champion to come out of Enzo Calzaghe’s Newbridge Gym. Who should we be looking out for next?

EM: “There are a load of boys coming out of there. Nathan Cleverly is probably the main one out of the younger boys there at the moment, Kerry Hope, Harry Miles, all good boys in the gym, they are all good boys. They all train hard, they all train together, everyone spars each other. Obviously, we’ve got me, Joe [Calzaghe], Gavin [Rees], Gary Lockett and Bradley Pryce. We have five champions in the gym; what other gym has got that? So yeah, look out for them.”