By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (33-5, 26 KO’s) will be moving back up to cruiserweight for one fight against British cruiserweight champion Shane McPhilbin (8-2, 5 KO’s) on March 23rd at the Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, UK.

Maccarinelli, 31, will only have a little more than a month to put on the weight for this fight, as he still has a fight this month on the Nathan Cleverly vs. Tommy Karpency undercard on February 25th in Wales. It’s still unknown at this time who he’ll be facing in that fight.

It probably doesn’t matter if Maccarinelli is out-weighed by McPhilbin because he’s not a big puncher and no threat to Maccarinelli’s sometimes fragile chin. He’ll likely not make it past the 3rd round against Maccarinelli if he comes out throwing leather because he hits too hard and is a much more talented fighter. It’s a good stay busy fight for Maccarinelli while he waits for other opportunities.

He could end up facing the Tony Bellew – Danny McIntosh winner to get a shot at WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly. However, Maccarinelli might have to do a lot more than beat Bellew or McIntosh to get the Cleverly fight because it looks like Cleverly is in no hurry to face the hard hitting Maccarinelli despite the fact that Cleverly has already fought #13 Bellew and now #10 Karpency. He’s not exactly tearing the light heavyweight division apart in terms of taking on dangerous opposition. Maccarinelli would be a much better choice but he’d also be a threat to beat him, so he’ll probably have to wait a lot longer.

McPhilbin, 26, beat Leon Williams by a 12th round TKO last month, but didn’t look all that impressive. He looked like a decent domestic level fighter, no more than that.