John-Lewis did Maccarinelli a HUGE favor by saving him from McKenzie

By Boxing News - 11/09/2012 - Comments

Image: John-Lewis did Maccarinelli a HUGE favor by saving him from McKenzieBy Scott Gilfoid: Referee Ian John-Lewis did the proper thing that a referee should have done in his situation by stopping the fight in the 2nd round last night when he saw that Enzo Maccarinelli (32-6, 27 KO’s) was taking mostly one-way punishment against the ropes by Commonwealth light heavyweight champion Ovill McKenzie (21-11, 10 KO’s) at the Olympia, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom.

I know there’s a lot of Maccarinelli fans bellyaching today about the stoppage, but the John-Lewis made the right call in halting the fight, believe me. He was there up close and he saw how Maccarinelli’s head was getting whip-lashed left and right each time McKenzie would land one of his power shots.

Maccarinelli was just standing there against the ropes like an over-sized punching bag absorbing one-way punishment. It was the right call for the fight to be halted because Maccarinelli wasn’t going to do anything and it was only a matter of time before McKenzie put him down for the count with one of his monstrous shots.

Maccarinelli looked gaunt in there against the much more heavily muscled McKenzie. Maccarinelli didn’t used his jab all to try and create space between him and the power punching McKenzie despite the fact that Tony Bellew had created a blueprint in how to beat McKenzie by jabbing him continuously to earn a 12 round decision last year in July.

Maccarinelli had the game plan to follow, yet wasn’t doing that in the 1st or the 2nd round. I mean, McKenzie was able to tee off at will on Maccarinelli in the opening round and all Maccarinelli did was just feebly try and cover up. Granted, Maccarinelli did land a several hard shots in the round, but that was nothing compared to the seemingly never-ending amount of power shots he was hit with by McKenzie. It wasn’t even close.

The second round was just like the first with McKenzie teeing off on Maccarinelli with shot after shot to head. The difference here was that Maccarinelli made a crucial error by retreating to the ropes in a land stand type of fighting mode. He was able to land several hard shots from that position, but McKenzie’s shots were snapping Maccarinelli’s head back violently from side to side.

It was after seeing this that referee Ian John-Lewis wisely stepped in and stopped the fight. He did the right thing. When you see a fighter getting his head snapped this way and that way, the referee has got to stop the fight and that’s what he did. I commend John-lewis for doing the right thing and halting the bout when he did because it was the smart thing to do.

As for Maccarinelli, I think he should consider retirement because if he can’t even beat a fighter like McKenzie then I honestly don’t know what he can do with his boxing career. I think it’s time for Maccarinelli to hang up the old boxing gloves and call it a day. He had a nice little career with him winning and briefly holding down the WBO cruiserweight title until getting knocked out by David Haye in 2008. Maccarinelli has nothing to be ashamed of.



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