By William Mackay: European Boxing Union (EBU) cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (32-4, 25 KO’s) will be taking a big gamble in his next fight against unbeaten German based contender Alexander Frenkel (22-0, 17 KO’s) in Frank Warren’s Magnificent Seven competition at the LG Arena, Birmingham, West Midlands, England. Maccarinelli, 29, thinks this fight will further resurrect his once promising career. It certainly hurt, as the 25-year-old Frenkel is currently ranked #9 WBA, #10 IBF and #11 WBO, and has knockout power in either hand.

Frenkel is definitely being groomed by his German handlers as a future champion. They must really believe in him for them to put him with a big puncher like Maccarinelli. They no doubt have taken note Maccarinelli’s three knockout losses in his last seven fights, and figure that the big punching Frenkel will have an excellent chance of knocking Maccarinelli out as well. And he may just do that if Maccarinelli, 6’4”, doesn’t his much better height and reach against the shorter 6’1” Frenkel.

In theory, Maccarinelli should be able to beat a slow mover like Frenkel with his jab alone, because Frenkel doesn’t have a very long reach, and he’s fast at all on his feet. Frenkel doesn’t have blazing hand speed like say David Haye, who stopped Maccarinelli in the 2nd round in March 2008. However, Frenkel does hit hard enough to where if Maccarinelli is there to be hit, he will test his chin and possibly hurt him.

In an article at the News.bbc.co.uk, Maccarinelli says “He’s [Frenkel] got a pretty similar record to Alexander Kotlobay who I beat in Russia last time out. They’ve fought similar guys. He’s another dangerous up and comer who wants my name on his record. But my confidence is high. I went over to Kotlobay’s home town and flattened him in a round.”

Frenkel is probably a lot better fighter than Kotlobay. Maccarinelli does need to put things in perspective. Frenkel hits harder than Kotlobay, but he’s about as slow as him. Frenkel probably isn’t going to fold immediately like Kotlobay did, so Maccarinelli needs to be ready for a fight that could go the full 12 rounds. Frenkel keeps his power late and is capable of scoring a knockout in any round. Maccarinelli needs to be on his toes and to keep his chin as far as possible to avoid Frenkel’s powerful left hooks and straight hands. Frenkel’s reach is limited, but if Maccarinelli lets him get in close, he’s going to wreck his world and probably leave him on the canvas for a long time.

Maccarinelli has the much better power, speed, jab and size compared to Frenkel. But what Maccarinelli doesn’t have is the chin, unless it’s gotten much better since his last knockout loss to Russian Denis Lebedev last year in July. Maccarinelli let Lebedev in too close and paid the price by getting beaten up and stopped in the 3rd round. Frenkel is going to be studying what Lebedev was able to do with Maccarinelli and will be looking to get close enough to land his bombs.

Frenkel isn’t the type of fighter that’s going to out-box the better fighters in the division. He’s going to be looking for a knockout win all the way. That’s really his only chance. He started off as a sleek and fast fighter when he first started his pro career four years ago in 2006, but Frenkel has slowed down as he’s gotten older and is now very slow on his feet and not very active in terms of punch out-put. Frenkel is like a cruiserweight version of Arthur Abraham, only not as much of a killer puncher as him.

But Frenkel does hit hard enough to stop Maccarinelli if he can get close enough and hit him enough times. Maccarinelli hopefully has learned to fight on the outside, because if he doesn’t, he’ll need a knockout to win this fight. If he lets Frenkel stick around for long and lets him get close to land, he’s going to knock Maccarinelli out.