Maccarinelli Wants Rematch with Afolabi- News

By William Mackay: Having lost two out of his last three bouts and looking incredibly weak of chin, former World Boxing Organization cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (29-3, 22 KO’s) will be looking to resurrect his sagging career when he fights undefeated Russian Denis Lebedev (17-0, 12 KO’s) for the interim WBO cruiserweight title on July 18th on the undercard of the Amir Khan vs. WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester.

Maccarinelli, 28, was knocked out in his last fight against Ola Afolabi in the 9th round in March. Many boxing fans saw this fight as a mere formality for Maccarinelli, and were fooled by Afolabi’s mediocre record of 13-1-3, 6 KO’s at the time of the fight, thinking that Maccarinelli would be way too much for him.

Instead, it was Afolabi who turned out to be way too talented for Maccarinelli, and quickly hurt Enzo in the 3rd round and then put him away for good six rounds later in the 9th with a big right hand bomb.

According to Setanta Sports, Maccarinelli says “All I want is Afolabi, that’s the only fight I want.” That makes a lot of sense. Of course Maccarinelli should want a rematch with Afolabi, because to avoid trying to get in the ring with Ola again, Maccarinelli’s career will suffer because he seems to have lost his overpowering mystique that he once had a couple of years ago before being stopped by David Haye.

There’s nothing Maccarinelli can do to get a rematch with Haye, since David moved up to heavyweight last year, but there is something that Maccarinelli can do about his loss to Afolabi. It wasn’t as if Maccarinelli was blown out of the water by Afolabi, because other than the 3rd and 9th rounds in which Maccarinelli was hurt by right hands, he was in control of the fight and easily winning.

The main problem for Maccarinelli was that he made the mistake of letting Afolabi get in too close and ended up getting hit with some big shots that he could have avoided had he stayed on the outside and used his reach advantage.

Maccarinelli doesn’t want to take things slow with his comeback, which is why he has chosen the unbeaten Lebedev to make his ring return against. However, unlike the bout with Afolabi, who turned out to be a hidden gem, Lebedev might very well be an example of a fighter with a badly inflated record.

Only one of his opponents, Eliseo Castillo, has a recognizable name and many of them have losing records. Lebedev doesn’t look all that powerful in video of him and his hand speed is rather slow to say the least. His record portrays a different kind of fighter from the one that I’ve seen on video.

This will probably be an easy fight for Maccarinelli to win, as Lebedev hasn’t fought anyone close to being as good as Maccarinelli. All of the indications for this bout suggest that Enzo should stop the slow footed Lebedev without five or six rounds. However, I can’t see Maccarinelli doing any better against Afolabi in a rematch.

Maccarinelli’s chin is too brittle and in order to beat a fighter like Afolabi, you have to have a good chin. Maccarinelli may end up having to think hard about what to do with his boxing career if he gets knocked out again by Afolabi in the near future. Enzo doesn’t have the skills to avoid Afolabi’s big shots and I can see this ending possibly earlier next time out.

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