Enzo Maccarinelli

By Nick Kelly: Saturday night saw Enzo Maccarinelli defeated by David Haye and whilst the loss was crushing for Maccarinelli, it might have been the other Enzo in the corner looking just as worried.

Last Saturday was the first of four bouts over the coming months in which Enzo Calzaghe’s reputation at one of the best trainers in the world is put to the test.

Heralded by both the BBC and the Ring Magazine as the trainer of the year for 2007, 2008 will determine whether he can measure up to the level of Floyd Mayweather senior, Emmanuel Steward and Freddie Roach.

By Dan Ambrose: The father of Joe Calzaghe, Enzo, has recently come out with a stern warning to WBA/WBC cruiserweight champion David Haye, letting him know that his career may be in jeopardy if his upcoming March 8th bout against WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli goes 12-rounds. Haye, a knockout artist accustomed to ending his bouts early, has struggled with his stamina in fights against Carl Thompson, who stopped Haye in the 5th round after he punched himself out in their September 2004 bout, and against Giacobbe Fragomeni, a fight in which Haye took an awful amount of punishment as he tired out after the 6th round in November 2006.

In today’s boxing news around the horn, WBC/WBA cruiserweight champ David Haye (20-1, 19KOs) hopes to be able to repeat former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis’ knockout performance against over-matched Michael Grant in 2000, in which Lewis scored a sweet 2nd round KO. Haye, 27, hopes that he can stop Maccarinelli in similar fashion, quickly taking him out with big right hands. Apparently, Haye feels that Maccarinelli isn’t a legitimate fighter, but rather one that has been out together by his promoter.

In the latest boxing news, World Boxing Association/World Boxing Council cruiserweight champion David Haye (20-1, 19 KOs) came out firing again in an interview with South London Press, saying about World Boxing Organization cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (28-1, 21 KOs) “I can’t see it going past four or five rounds. The only way it will is if he gets a chin transplant from Marvin Hagler – and I don’t think he’s got time to do that in the next couple of months. There’s no way I can see him getting past the early rounds.”

Haye, 27, who won the WBA & WBC cruiserweight titles in an impressive 7th round TKO of champion Jean-Marc Mormeck on November 2007, is making no secret that he plans on going right at Maccarinelli in the opening rounds to try and immediately take him out. Haye’s strategy comes to no surprise to anyone, since Haye fights that way every time, putting everything he’s got into a quick knockout within the first couple of rounds. It’s been an effective style so far in Haye’s career, but it doesn’t always work, like in his fight with former British great Carl Thompson, who calmly took every thing that Haye could dish out in the first four rounds, and then stopped him in the fifth round when he had exhausted himself from having expended too much energy.

World Boxing Association/World Boxing Council cruiserweight champion David Haye (20-1, 19 KOs) has had a change of mind, today announcing that he will indeed decide to take on World Boxing Organization cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (28-1, 21 KOs) for a unification bout on March 8th in the UK. Both Haye and Maccarinelli are knockout punchers, the type that often end their bouts in the first several rounds. Of the two, Maccarinelli has the better overall boxing skills, with the ability to box or punch depending on the circumstances in the bout. Whereas with Haye, he exclusively goes for quick knockouts every time out, ignoring important things like pacing himself and concentrating on defense.

He paid for his lack of defense and pacing in his bout with 40 year-old ex-cruiserweight champion Carl Thompson, who rallied to defeat Haye by 5th round TKO in September 2004. In that fight, Haye had pretty much had his way with Thompson, battering viciously around the ring for the first four rounds of the fight. However, when the 5th round came around, Thompson unloaded with a handful of punches to stop the physically exhausted Haye, who by that time could barely stand up. Not much has changed since then, as Haye continues to pour it on against all of his opponents, but lucky for him, the vast majority of them have been sub par fighters.