By Scott Gilfoid: If former WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (33-5, 26 KO’s) wants to get a shot against inexperienced little known WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (23-0, 11 KO’s), then Maccarinelli will have to earn it by taking on and beating Bob Ajisafe (9-2, 3 KO’s) in a British title eliminator on the Cleverly vs. Tommy Karpency undercard on February 25th at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales.

That’s just the first hoop that Maccarinelli has to jump through to get a Cleverly fight. Maccarinelli then must face British light heavyweight champion Tony Bellew to try and beat him as well before he’ll finally get a shot at Cleverly.

I don’t understand why Maccarinelli is being made to do all of these things when you see Cleverly facing the 26-year-old Karpency, who isn’t even ranked in the top 15. Why the WBO is sanctioning this fight is beyond me. Normally they won’t sanction a fight if the opponent isn’t ranked at least #15, and I don’t see Karpency anywhere in the top 15.

So, Cleverly faces a guy that’s not even ranked in the top 15, but Maccarinelli has to go through two separate opponents before he gets to Cleverly? I see some ducking going on, and I guess I don’t blame Cleverly. He was getting cleanly for 12 rounds against Bellew last October, and if Maccarinelli is able to land shots like that against Cleverly then there won’t be much left of him by the 5th or 6th. I think they’re not in any hurry to fight Maccarinelli and are likely hoping that either Ajisafe or Bellew weeds Maccarinelli out ahead of time.

Maccarinelli will have no problems destroying Ajisife. This is going to be too easy for Maccarinelli. Ajisife has even less power than Cleverly and won’t be able to keep Macccarinelli off of him. Look for a 1st or 2nd round knockout win for Maccarinelli.

Bellew will be a little tougher but I think Maccarinelli can beat this guy by hitting him with something big early on. Bellew didn’t want any part of mixing it up with the big punching Ovill McKenzie last July and did nothing but jab the guy for 12 rounds. Bellew can’t beat Maccarinelli by jabbing and will end up getting knocked out.