By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBO crusierweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (33-5, 26 KO’s) takes on 37-year-old journeyman Ciaran Healy (13-17-1, 4 KO’s) on the undercard of the Nathan Cleverly vs. Tommy Karpency fight on Saturday night at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales. Maccarinelli, 31, is now fighting at light heavyweight and he looks almost sickly at this weight given his huge 6’4″ frame.
Maccarinelli won’t have any problems blasting out Healy, because this guy is just a journeyman and he’s lost got little power and has lost seven out of his last ten fights. Healy doesn’t stand a chance in this fight. Maccarinelli is hoping to get a shot at a fight against Cleverly, but thus far Cleverly has been cool to that idea. He wants Maccarinelli to build his name back up there before he’ll fight him, as Maccarinelli has lost four out of his last eight fights with all four losses coming by knockout.
Here’s the deal: The guys that Maccarinelli was beaten by – David Haye, Ola Afolabi, Denis Lebedev and Alexander Frenkel – would all beat Cleverly fairly easy in my estimation, so it isn’t like Maccarinelli is a terrible fighter for losing to those guys. I have no doubt if you tossed Cleverly in with Haye, Frenkel, Afolabi and Lebedev, he would struggle mightily. That’s just the way it is. But the reality is, Maccarinelli is probably going to have to wait at least two or three years before he’ll get a shot against Cleverly, and by then Cleverly will have already been beaten and lost his World Boxing Organization title.
There’s no real point in getting excited about facing Cleverly, because the guy won’t fight Maccarinelli any time soon and he’s just get beat himself when he steps it up for the first time in his career against someone good for a change like Chad Dawson, Bernard Hopkins, Beibut Shumenov, Jean Pascal or Tavoris Cloud.
Maccarinelli’s fight with Healy is scheduled for eight rounds, but it probably won’t go beyond two because Healy is going to get knocked out early in this fight. Maccarinelli is using the Healy fight as a tune-up to get ready for his March 23rd fight against British crusierweight champion Shane McPhilbin, which is also pretty much just a fluff tune-up fight as well, because McPhilbin is nowhere near the same class as Maccarinelli. I also feel the same way about Cleverly. I don’t put him in the same class as Maccarinelli. Cleverly is someone that was given the title by the WBO rather than having earned it in the ring, and he barely held onto it in his last fight against Bellew. Maccarinelli may have chin problems but he does well against light hitters like Cleverly, and he’d be all over that guy if given the chance. It’s just too bad Cleverly likely won’t hold onto the WBO belt for very long because I would love to see him fight Maccarinelli.