By Scott Gilfoid: A slightly flabby looking Roy Jones Jr. (62-8, 45 KOs) weighed in successfully on Friday in coming in at 198lbs for his scheduled 12 round bout against former WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (40-7, 32 KOs) for their fight on Saturday night in Jones Jr’s adopted country of Russia at the VTB Arena in Moscow, Russia. Maccarinelli weighed in at a skinny 193lbs.
It’s unclear what the end game is for the Jones-Maccarinelli fight. I can’t see Maccarinelli getting any more world title chances because he’s failed enough to last two careers.
As for Jones, he’s a fringe level guy with a #11 WBO ranking. Unless WBO cruiserweight champion Krzystof Glowaki wants to throw Jones Jr. a bone by giving him a shot with one of his voluntary defenses, I can’t see Jones ever working his way to a No.1 mandatory position with the WBO. But my guess is we’ll see Jones get a shot at Glowaki in the near future. I can’t say I’m looking forward to that. I think Glowaki will destroy Jones worse than Denis Lebedev did.
I’d be very surprised if Maccarinelli doesn’t get knocked out by Jones Jr. It’s not that Jones Jr. is a big puncher or a good fighter at this point in his career. It’s more a case of Maccarinelli being so gawd awful right now. He’s just there to be beaten by any halfway decent fighter in my opinion, and Jones fits the description of being halfway decent. He’s not good by any means, but he doesn’t need to in order to beat Maccarinelli.
Maccarinelli has the punching power to end Jones Jr’s world title dreams if he lets his hands go and lands one of his shots, but Maccarinelli is kind of uncoordinated in my view, and his accuracy with his shots is something awful. I don’t know if he’ll be able to land one of his shots on Jones Jr’s chin even if he’s standing there with his chin on a tee waiting to get hit.
Jones Jr. wants to win a cruiserweight world title before he retires one of these days. I just don’t see him being capable of beating even the worst of the cruiserweight champions, which I feel is Victor Ramirez, the IBF belt holder. I can’t even see Jones Jr. beating that guy, and that’s saying a lot because Ramirez is totally beatable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqwZT-djPk4
Maccarinelli is coming into Saturday’s fight with a nice two-fight winning streak over little known fighters Gyorgy Nvak and Jiri Svacina. Maccarinelli was stopped in the 5th round last year by WBA World light heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer in April of 2014. I consider Braehmer to be the weak link among the light heavyweight champions, but it was amusing to see how effortlessly he took care of Maccarinelli. It was just too easy for him. He closed Maccarinelli’s left eye and the fight was stopped quick.
The last time Maccarinelli beat a halfway decent fighter was when he beat Ovill McKenzie two years ago in stopping him in the 11th round in 2013. Before that win, you have to go back in time six years to 2007, for the last time that Maccarinelli beat a top level fighter. He defeated Mohamed Azzaoui and Wayne Braithwaite both in 2007. I guess you could say that was the high point in Maccarinelli’s career, because it’s been pretty much all downhill for him ever since he was trounced by David Haye in two rounds in their fight in 2008.
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