By James Hughes: On a bad night for former champions, Wales’ Enzo Maccarinelli failed in his bid to regain his WBO Cruiserweight crown. Whether Maccarinelli took his opponent too lightly in the build-up to the fight (he reportedly didn’t spar a single round), or took his eye off the ball during the fight having built up a comfortable lead (I had him at least 6 rounds to 2 ahead), he paid dearly for it when Afolabi landed a peach of a right hook that laid Maccarinelli flat out.
Maccarinelli started well enough, taking the opening round as he landed the greater variety of shots and Afolabi seemed content just to jab, taking quite a few body shots in the process. In the second round Afolabi continued jabbing and fighting at the same pace, but proved more elusive, while both men missed their biggest punches. Maccarinelli pinned his opponent on the ropes late in the round and landed combinations but Afolabi fought his way out of these short-range exchanges well and possibly did enough to nick the round.
In the third, Afolabi built on the previous round by getting the better of the exchanges and almost putting his man down towards the end of round; Maccarinelli was hanging on after being caught pretty flush by a right hook (more of which later, unfortunately). To his credit though, the Welshman stopped Afolabi’s attempts to build momentum by winning the 4th round, working the body effectively as his opponent failed to take the initiative.
Maccarinelli’s control of the fight continued through rounds 5 to 8 inclusive, as he outworked and outlanded Afolabi, who spent far too much time covering up, moving around ineffectively or fooling around by encouraging the Welshman to come on or by trying to make him miss (only to get hit). The fifth and seventh were somewhat scrappy, but both Maccarinelli rounds, and in between he used hooks to score to head and body and he backed Afolabi to the ropes on a couple of occasions, dominating the 6th round. The aim of boxing is to hit and not get hit, but Afolabi was doing a grand job of the exact opposite.
In the 8th round Maccarinelli switched from using the hook as his main weapon to the uppercut. The result was the same though. At this point I thought Afolabi was looking battle-weary and might be there for taking. What happened next made a mockery of my thoughts, as Afolabi suddenly sprang to life and started to back Maccarinelli up as he let his hands go. Just past the halfway mark of the round, Afolabi sprung his “get out of jail free” card – a huge right hook – that Maccarinelli on his back. The Welshman bravely dragged himself to his feet for 8, but wobbled hopelessly backwards into the ropes, so the referee was left with no choice but to stop the fight.
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