By Nate Anderson: Former World Boxing Organization cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (30-4, 23 KO’s) wants to win his old WBO title back, according to news from Frankwarren.tv. However, for Maccarinelli, 29, to do that, he’ll have to beat the current WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck. That’s easier said than done. Maccarinelli has lost three out of his last fight fights, all three coming by knockout.

The wins have come against 2nd tier fighters Krisztian Jaksi and Matthew Ellis. An obstacle that might prevent Maccarinelli from getting a shot against the champion Huck is Maccarinelli low ranking in the WBO. As of now, Maccarinelli isn’t ranked in the top 15, and will have to pick up a win over a good opponent or an accumulation of wins to bring him back in the top 15.

More of an immediately concern is whether Maccarinelli’s punch resistance has decreased. He was badly knocked out by knockout artist David Haye in March 2008. That fight led to more losses, with Maccarinelli being stopped by Ola Afolabi in a 9th round stoppage in March 2009. Instead of taking it easy after the knockout to Afolabi and taking an extended rest, Maccarinelli took on the hard hitting Russian southpaw Denis Lebedev and ended up getting destroyed by the Russian in a 3rd round stoppage in July 2009.

Ideally, Maccarinelli, if he was determined to fight so soon after being stopped by Afolabi, he should have stuck to fighting softer opponents for awhile to let his brain recover from the two knockout losses to Haye and Afolabi. However, Maccarinelli, not one to take things easy, went back into the ring against the unbeaten – but untested – Lebedev and paid the price by being stopped.

Maccarinelli said in an article in the Swansea Evening Post, “There’s no doubt by old title is the one I want.”

In terms of offensive skills and power, Maccarinelli probably has the best tools in the entire cruiserweight division. He has the height, the power and punch assortment to mow down any fighter in the division. The problem with Maccarinelli is his ability to take shots after the losses to Haye, Afolabi and Lebedev.

Granted, each of those fighters have big power and it’s not surprising that they would be able to score a knockout with their kind of power, but it’s not a good sign that Maccarinelli is getting stopped repeatedly in a short period of time. He had been in with big punchers in the past, beating the likes of Wayne Braithwaite without showing any signs of having problems taking big shots.

The good news is that if Maccarinelli’s defense can be improved, he can likely still be a top fighter in the division. At 6’4”, Maccarinelli has the height and the reach to dominate from the outside. However, he has to change the way he fights for that to happen. Instead of using his reach and height, Maccarinelli tends to fight on the inside where he likes to throw hard body shots and uppercuts.

If he’s going to be successful in his comeback, Maccarinelli is going to need to learn how to use his jab, fight on the outside and use movement to keep from getting hit so often. He needs to pattern himself after the style of IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who never fights on the inside.