By Nate Anderson: Making his first appearance since being rudely stopped in the 2nd round by David Haye in March, former World Boxing Organization (WBO) cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (29-2, 22 KOs) took apart heavyweight Mathew Ellis (20-6-1, 9 KOs) on Saturday night, knocking him down three times with huge body shots and ultimately stopping him in the 2nd round of a scheduled 10-round bout at the ExCel Arena, Dockland, in London.
Maccarinelli, ranked #3 in the WBO, finished a badly overmatched Ellis with a two lefts to the body, sending him down to the canvas. Referee Dave Parris then stepped in and halted the fight at 1:28 of the round.
Maccarinelli, 28, who had previously been scheduled to fight number #1 ranked WBO contender Jonathon Banks until Banks suffered an injury which led to the cancellation of their fight, instead took on the heavyweight Ellis as a last second replacement.
If there were any concerns as to whether or not Maccarinelli would still have some lingering effects from his 2nd round stoppage to Haye nine months earlier, Maccarinelli quickly dispelled them by coming out fast with a hard body attack in the 1st round resulting in Ellis being dropped with a huge right to the body seconds into the fight.
After Ellis got up off the canvas, Maccarinelli continued with his fierce body attack, staggering Ellis against the ropes with a hard right to the body. The ropes kept Ellis from falling down, but the referee didn’t stop the action and rule it a knockdown, even though he probably should have.
Maccarinelli then continued to plaster Ellis with huge body shots while having him trapped against the ropes. Ellis hardly had time to throw more than a few weak jabs before Maccarinelli once again started bombing him to the body with hurtful looking hooks. After landing one particularly hard left hook to Ellis’ body, his legs buckled briefly and he needed to the ropes to keep him from falling again.
A short while later, Maccarinelli dropped Ellis again with a left hook to the body. He got up at the count of eight and moved to the ropes to try and cover up. With a stationary target in front of him, Maccarinelli teed-off with big hooks to Ellis’ body, causing him to sag against the ropes and almost fall down again.
The referee stepped in and looked to be halting the fight, but instead gave Maccarinelli a warning for a left hook that had strayed a little bit too low. This stoppage of the action allowed Ellis to escape the round, as he probably would have been stopped of the referee had allowed Maccarinelli to land any more shots.
In the 2nd round, Maccarinelli fought cautiously in the opening minute, as if he was trying to focus on his boxing skills a little to get in some work and not try to finish him off too quickly. However, after jabbing away at Ellis for a little over a minute, Maccarinelli once again opened up with his powerful body shots and quickly put Ellis down with two hard left hooks to the body. This time, referee Dave Parris stepped in and halted the fight at 1:28 of the 2nd round.
“I went rushing in and had a couple of heavy knockdowns in the first round,” Maccarinelli said. “In the second round, I took control a bit more and showed a bit of my boxing skills.
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