By William Mackay: Promoter Frank Warren is leaving it in the hands of the British Boxing Board of Control and newly crowned British cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (35-5, 27 KO’s) as far as a rematch taking place with the now dethroned former British champion Shane McPhilbin, who Maccarinelli beat last Friday night by a questionable 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 115-111, 116-111, and 115-110.

It wasn’t so much the scores that were wrong with the fight, it was the early ending to the 1st round with the bell being rung 47 seconds early just after Maccarinelli had been knocked down and badly hurt by McPhilbin. Maccarinelli got back to his feet but he was in really bad shape and it goes without saying that he would have likely been knocked down again. McPhilbin was punching with a lot of power in the first three rounds of the fight and Maccarinelli was there to be hit because he wasn’t doing a good job of keeping McPhilin on the outside the way he needed to.

Warren told Ifilmlondon “Unfortunately the time keeper got it wrong and it was a very crucial time in the fight when he did that.”

When the topic of a rematch between Maccarinelli and McPhilbin was brought up, Warren said “Well that’s up to the BBBofC and it’s also up to Enzo Maccarinelli. I don’t want Enzo to fight. I’ve made that very clear for a long time now. I’d prefer him tor retire, but at the end of the day it’s his decision.”

I agree that Maccarinelli needs to retire. A rematch between him and McPhilbin would be a really bad idea because Maccarinelli doesn’t know how to keep McPhilin on the outside and in a rematch he’d likely hit the deck again. In addition to that, McPhilbin was landing a lot of hard rabbit punches and it’s probably not worth it for Maccarinelli to fight that kind of guy. If a referee isn’t going to do their job to keep McPhilbin from throwing rabbit punches, then Maccarinelli should vacate the title if the BBBofC tries to force a rematch.

Maccarinelli did the best he could and he was very lucky the decision. If he’s going to continue his career, he needs to get with someone like Emanuel Steward to teach him how to keep shorter fighters on the outside, and teach him how to use his jab, as well as to hold the smothering fighters. Steward has done a great job with Wladimir Klitschko in teaching him how to protect his weak chin; he can do the same thing with Maccarinelli. Of course, it would likely mean that Maccarinelli would have to live in the U.S in order to be available to train with Steward but it might be worth it if he’s interested in prolonging his career and getting somewhere in the sport.