https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NagfVQG2eOo

By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (40-7, 32 KOs) will be looking to KO 46-year-old Roy Jones Jr. (62-8, 45 KOs) in their scheduled 12 round fight this Saturday night at the VTB Arena, in Moscow, Russia. The Jones-Maccarinelli fight will be televised by BoxNation in the UK.

Jones recently became a Russian citizen after meeting with the president of Russia Vladimir Putin. Jones Jr., ranked #11 by the WBO, is now a dual citizen of Russia and the United States. It’s unclear how much time Jones Jr. will need to spend each year in Russian in order to keep his citizenship, but it’s likely going to be a considerable amount of time.

This is a very winnable fight for Maccarinelli if he comes out fast looking to take Jones Jr’s head off. But if Maccarinelli fights cautiously like he did in his loss to Juergen Braehmer last year, then I can see Jones winning the fight. Jones Jr. definitely has a chin problem, as does Maccarinelli, but I think Jone’s chin problem is worse.

Maccarinelli has the kind of punching power that gives Jones major problems. Jones doesn’t have the kind of power that gives Maccarinelli problems. That’s why I see this as a winnable fight for Maccarinelli if he stops being so timid in the ring and just goes after Jones from the start of the fight.

I just don’t know that Maccarinelli mentally has the courage and the ring IQ to take advantage of his superior power and size in this fight. He’s someone who is totally constrained and will very likely hold back with his offensive skills and wind up losing again.

It was first talked about that the Maccarinelli vs. Jones Jr. would be a title eliminator, but that since has been dismissed. It’s just a regular fight. The 35-year-old Maccarinelli isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies for the cruiserweight division, so it’s impossible for his fight against Jones Jr. to be any kind of eliminator.

“Roy Jones has been adopted by the people in Russia so he’s their man, he’s their hero, so I know that I’m coming into this fight as the enemy. At the end of the day I’m not here to make any friends I’m here to smash up Jones and get the win,” Maccarinelli said.

It’s hard to say who will win this fight because both fighters are so far gone. Jones Jr. hasn’t looked good for at least 15 years, and Maccarinelli’s chin appeared to abandon him seven years ago after he was stopped in the 2nd round by a young David Haye in 2008. Maccarinelli has had chin problems ever since that fight in getting stopped by Denis Lebedev, Ola Afolabi, Alexander Frenkel, Ovill McKenzie and Juergen Braehmer.

“Physically I’m ready and mentally I’m strong and nothing is going to get in the way of the job that I’ve got to do,” Maccarinelli said. “As soon as that bell goes, all the legendary stuff, his ring achievements, everything gets put aside and I’m going straight for him.”