By Scott Gilfoid: After a six-year dry spell former WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (38-6, 30 KO’s) will finally get another crack at a world title against WBA light heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer (42-2, 31 KO’s) on April 5th at the Stadthalle, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Maccarinelli, 33, has been relegated to the Euro level for the past 6 years since losing his WBO cruiserweight title to David Haye by a 2nd round TKO in 2008.
Maccarinelli has looked pretty horrible in knockout loses to Ola Afolabi, Denis Lebedev, Alexander Frenkel, and Ovill McKenzie. But after all those defeats, Maccarinelli has clawed his way into a title shot against Braehmer on April 5th, and this is his big chance to win a strap, albeit against a fighter who many boxing fans see as a paper champion.
I’m sure Maccarinelli isn’t going to raise his snout in the air and say the WBA strap isn’t good enough for him, because at this point in his career this may be his only chance of winning a title. I mean, you can’t expect Maccarinelli to get in the ring with the likes of light heavyweight champions Sergey Kovalev and Adonis Stevenson, because those guys would likely massacre poor Enzo within 2 or 3 rounds tops. He’s not in their class or even close to it.
Maccarinelli has earned his shot at Braehmer’s WBA world title strap by beating the following fighters: McKenzie, Carl Wild and Courtney Fry. Yeah, we’re not talking about the class of the 175lb division, are we? But Maccarinelli was somehow able to beat this bunch and get hand-picked for a world title fight. This obviously going to be a huge step up in class for Maccarinelli because he’s not fought a good opponent since he was destroyed by Frenkel four years ago in 7 rounds in 2010.
That’s a long time go in between facing quality opponents, but it might not matter because Braehmer is getting old at 35, and he’s never been much of a puncher even in his prime. It’s possible that Maccarinelli might be able to knock him out or maybe get lucky and win a decision. I mean, I don’t think it’s going to happen, but there’s a chance that Maccarinelli might win. Given that the fight’s in Germany, I’d have to say Maccarinelli’s chances of getting a decision are slim and none. He’s pretty much going to have to knock Braehmer senseless to make sure that he gets the win, because if Braehmer finishes the fight on his feet, then I see Maccarinelli losing.
If Maccarinelli gets knocked out in this fight by Braehmer then Maccarinelli might as well retire right there on spot. He should just hang up the gloves, because if he can’t beat this guy then there’s no way on earth he’s going to be able to beat talents like Kovalev and Stevenson. You can throw Bernard Hopkins’ name in the mix as well, because he would school Maccarinelli.
Comments are closed.