Maccarinelli vs. McPhilbin next Friday

By Boxing News - 03/17/2012 - Comments

By William Mackay: Former WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (34-5, 27 KO’s) is hoping to win a lower level belt against British cruiserweight champion Shane McPhilbin (8-2, 5 KO’s) in a minor test for the 31-year-old Maccarinelli next Friday at the Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, UK. Maccarinelli is just trying to stay busy and keep sharp for a hoped for a fight against WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly in 2013 or 2014, whenever Cleverly’s people feel he’s ready to take the Maccarinelli.

Right now they obviously don’t feel Cleverly is ready for the fight because they’re saying that Maccarinelli, the much more experienced fighter, needs to prove himself after losing to David Haye, Alexander Frenkel, Denis Boytsov, and Ola Afolabi in the past few years. In other words, Maccarinelli has to show that he’s fully back and not the fighter that was stopped by those guys. However, it would be a big ask to see Cleverly beat any of them. I can’t see Cleverly beating any of them, so the excuse is kind of hallow about Maccarinelli needing to prove himself.

Maccarinelli should get past McPhilbin without too many problems as long as he doesn’t get clipped by a big shot. Maccarinelli will likely wrap things up in a round or two at best. McPhilbin has never fought anyone nearly as good as Maccarinelli and it’s going to be an earth shattering experience for him next Friday.

This is a very important fight for Maccarinelli because he’s got to be able to prove he an take shots from 2nd tier fighters like this without huge power. Maccarinelli also badly needs the fight to keep pace with Cleverly. It’s unfortunate that Maccarinelli is going to have to work hard to earn the shot against Cleverly, but it’s the way things are. Since Maccarinelli is apparently dialed into the Cleverly fight rather than fights against Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson, Tavoris Cloud and Beibut Shumenov, Maccarinelli is going to have to wait a while before he eventually gets a crack at Cleverly.



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