By Sean McDaniel: Former WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (32-4, 25 KO’s) could be getting a title shot in the cruiserweight division shortly, according to Walesonline. This after the 29-year-old Maccarinelli dismantled Russian Alexander Kotlobay on Tuesday night, stopping him in the 1st round to win the European Boxing Union (EBU) cruiserweight title at the Yubileiny Sports Palace, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was thought that Maccarinelli’s management team would take things slow for awhile, let him pick up some wins before putting him in a world title fight.

Maccarinelli has been knocked out in three out of his last seven fights, and his only wins during that time have come against non top 15 ranked opponents. Blessed with awesome power in both hands, Maccarinelli is difficult fighter to stand up against and try to trade for any length of time. Of his last four wins, three of them have been 1st round knockouts and the other was a 2nd round knockout. His power is very real. However, his chin has been his weakness, and it’s something likely won’t get better in the future.

Maccarinelli, like a lot of fighters, has to learn to protect his chin to give himself a chance against the better cruiserweights. According to the Wales online, his promoter Frank Warren feels confident about Maccarinelli’s future, saying “I think Enzo is really back. He will want a world title shot and it’s my job to get him one.” It’s unknown how long it will take before he wants to put Maccarinelli in against a world champion.

Right now, the IBF and WBC cruiserweight titles are vacant, and Maccarinelli would likely be facing someone like Steve Cunningham or Krzystof Wlodarczyk if he was to shoot for those two titles. There are also champions Guillermo Jones and Marco Huck. Of the two, Huck is probably the tougher because of his big power and steel chin. It wouldn’t be easy beating either one of these fighters, but given the choice, I’d say that Jones would be the easier fight compared to Huck. If Maccarinelli fights Huck, it would be a fight where he would have to stay on guard all fight long to prevent from taking a big shot from Huck and possibly getting knocked out.

Maccarinelli was thought to be washed up as a fighter by many boxing fans after losing to David Haye, Ola Afolabi and Denis Lebedev by knockouts in the past two years. Those were all hard-hitting opponents and Maccarinelli didn’t take much of any breaks between these fights, other than one tune-up fight after his 2nd round knockout loss against Haye in 2008. Maccarinelli stopped Matthew Ellis in the 2nd round in December 2008, but then went into two fights against Afolabi and Lebedev, losing both by knockouts.