Maccarinelli vs. Banks on December 6th

By Boxing News - 11/28/2008 - Comments

Image: Maccarinelli vs. Banks on December 6thBy Jim Dower: Former World Boxing Organization cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (28-2, 21 KOs) will try to get his career back on track against undefeated Johnathon Banks (20-0, 14 KOs) in a 12-round bout on December 6th for his old WBO title at the ExCel Arena, Dockland, in London.

This time, Maccarinelli, 28, doesn’t have to worry about having to face the monstrous punching David Haye, who took Maccarinelli out fast in a 2nd round stoppage in March. However, Maccarinelli will still have to worry about Bank’s big right hand which is plenty powerful enough to cause Maccarinelli some problems if he can land it enough times on his chin.

Maccarinelli has reportedly been working hard on his physique, increasing his strength while taking off fat and putting on a little more muscle. However, his problem was never a lack of power, if you ask me because Maccarinelli is one of the hardest punchers in the cruiserweight division.

With Haye gone, indeed, Maccarinelli may be the hardest puncher around with or without his old physique. His problem was that he made the mistake of trying to go out and slug with Haye early in the bout and good hurt.

Once he got clipped by a couple of good right hands, Maccarinelli’s courage got the better of him and he made the fatal mistake of trying to fight his way out of the problem. It didn’t work and Haye finished him off quickly with a flurry of shots in the 2nd round, leaving Maccarinelli staggering around the ring like a drunk, wondering what had happened.

In hindsight, Maccarinelli should have used his superior height and long reach to box Haye from the outside until later in the right where he could land something big on him. Maccarinelli had to have known that Haye had a problem with his stamina from watching the Carl Thompson fight and if he had paid attention to that fight, he should have steered clear of Haye until much later.

There would have been no shame in that. After all, it’s about fighting smart, knowing when to mix it up with a fighter and when not to. If the shoe was on the other foot, you can be sure that Haye would have stayed away from Maccarinelli if he was known for his quick starts.

As it is, Haye took a big risk himself by going after Maccarinelli hard in the 2nd round, because he may have walked into a big right hand from him in the process of trying to take him out and got put down himself. As it is, Maccarinelli needs to work on trying to protect himself better in his fight against Banks, because if he goes after him like he did Haye, Maccarinelli may get put down by Banks early on.

This is a tough fight for someone who was stopped as badly as Maccarinelli was last time and he should have realistically had a couple of easy fights in between this to try and build up his confidence and let his head recover from the serious knockout loss.



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