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'''Enzo Maccarinelli''' (born 20 August 1980 in [[Swansea]], [[Wales]]) is a Welsh professional [[boxing|boxer]] who fights in the cruiserweight division |
'''Enzo Maccarinelli''' (born 20 August 1980 in [[Swansea]], [[Wales]]) is a Welsh professional [[boxing|boxer]] who fights in the cruiserweight division. He is the former [[World Boxing Organization|WBO]] & [[World Boxing Union|WBU]] world champion and is the reigning [[European Boxing Union|European]] cruiserweight champion. He is promoted by [[Frank Warren (promoter)|Frank Warren]]. |
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== Early career == |
== Early career == |
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Revision as of 20:12, 27 April 2010
Enzo Maccarinelli | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Enzo Maccarinelli 20 August 1980 |
| Nationality |  Welsh |
| Other names | Big Mac |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | Cruiserweight |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 35 |
| Wins | 31 |
| Wins by KO | 24 |
| Losses | 4 |
Enzo Maccarinelli (born 20 August 1980 in Swansea, Wales) is a Welsh professional boxer who fights in the cruiserweight division. He is the former WBO & WBU world champion and is the reigning European cruiserweight champion. He is promoted by Frank Warren.
Early career
On 12 May 2000, Maccarinelli suffered his first defeat at the hands of southpaw Lee Swaby. Swaby, from Lincoln, England, sent Maccarinelli down with a crushing right hand, knocking Maccarinelli down in the third round. Maccarinelli never took the rematch against Swaby.
On 28 June 2003, Maccarinelli, known as "the Big Mac" won the vacant WBU cruiserweight title when he defeated Bruce Scott by fourth-round TKO.[1] He made seven successful defences of his WBU title before vacating.
On 8 July 2006, Maccarinelli fought against former WBC cruiserweight champion Marcelo Fabian Domínguez for the WBO interim cruiserweight title. Maccarinelli won the title with a ninth-round TKO.[1] On 22 September 2006, Johnny Nelson relinquished the WBO world cruiserweight title, and so Maccarinelli was promoted to full champion status.[2]
On 14 October 2006 Maccarinelli made his first defence of the WBO title, stopping past opponent Mark Hobson in the first round in a fight that was widely expected to last the distance (as indeed the first fight between the pair had). This was followed by another first round win over Bobby Gunn on 7 April 2007 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. The Gunn fight was stopped with just :25 seconds remaining in the first round by referee Mark Nelson, even though Gunn was not down and only had a small cut. It was widely and erroneously reported that Maccarinelli had broken Bobby Gunn's nose, but it was a small cut to the bridge of the nose that caused the bleeding. Gunn's nose was not broken and most observers at ringside thought the fight was stopped prematurely.
On 21 July 2007 Maccarinelli defended his WBO cruiserweight championship against former WBC champ Wayne Braithwaite and won by unanimous decision, after dominating the match. On 3 November 2007 Maccarinelli successfully defended his WBO cruiserweight title against Mohamed Azzaoui winning by TKO in the 4th Round.
'Bombs Away' and loss of title
Maccarinelli’s next fight was an all-British unification fight against the WBA/WBC champion David Haye. The fight took place on 8 March 2008 at the O2 Arena, London and was much hyped in the weeks running up to the event, being given the tagline “bombs away” (referring to the high KO percentages and punching power both men boasted). Maccarinelli lost the fight and his WBO belt when he was knocked out in the 2nd round. A right hand by Haye knocked Maccarinelli down towards the end of the round and although he was able to get back up it was on unsteady legs and the referee stepped in to stop the fight.[3]
After the fight Haye announced that he would be moving up to the heavyweight division with immediate effect and would therefore be vacating his newly won belts. Because of this Maccarinelli received an immediate opportunity to reclaim his WBO belt in a matchup against undefeated American Jonathon Banks for the now vacant championship, but due to injury Banks was forced to pull out. After several replacements were unable to fight Maccarinelli instead stepped up to heavyweight to face journeyman Matthew Ellis. Maccarinelli won after a 2nd round KO in what was his debut at the higher weight.[4] After the fight Frank Warren announced that Maccarinelli would face Banks in a re-scheduled bout for the WBO belt during February 2009.
Once again the Banks fight proved to be a non starter (Banks opted to make an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to win the IBF cruiserweight title against Tomasz Adamek) and instead Maccarinelli’s next fight was against the American based Londoner Ola Afolabi for the “interim” WBO title. The fight took place on March 14 at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, on the undercard of the Amir Khan vs Marco Antonio Barrera bout. With little knowledge about Afolabi prior to the fight Maccarinelli was favoured by most observers to win, however things did not go as expected as Maccarinelli struggled in the early rounds and was staggered in the 3rd round by a short chopping right hand from the slick Afolabi. Despite managing to recover and win the majority of the next few rounds he was knocked out by Afolabi in round 9 when a huge overhand right put him on the canvas and forced the referee to call off the fight.[5]
Lebedev fight, "retirement" and return and EBU Title
Maccarinelli’s next fight was against the unbeaten Russian Denis Lebedev on 18 July 2009. As with the Afolabi contest the fight took place at the M.E.N Arena on the undercard of an Amir Khan fight, this time Khan’s WBA light-welterweight title challenge against Andreas Kotelnik. From the very beginning of the fight Maccarinelli struggled with the power of his opponent and by the end of the second round his right eye had swollen completely shut from the punches landed by Lebedev. In the third round Lebedev rocked Maccarinelli with an uppercut which landed cleanly through his guard and after a further barrage of unanswered punches the referee stepped in and called a stop to the fight.[6]
Before the fight Maccarinelli had admitted that the contest represented “the last chance saloon” in terms of getting his career back on track, following 2 KO losses in his last 3 fights, and talking immediately after the defeat he hinted that this latest setback could signal the end of his boxing career. In an interview with his local paper a few days later Maccarinelli apparently confirmed his intention to retire from the sport[7], although he retracted this in a later interview with the same source[8].
Maccarinelli began his latest comeback attempt on another Amir Khan undercard, this time Khan's WBA Light-Welterweight title defence against Dmitry Salita on December 5 at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle. His opponent was the relatively unknown Hungarian journeyman Krisztian Jaksi.[9] who provided little resistance and was knocked out in the 1st round.[10]. Maccarinelli managed a second consecutive 1st round KO victory against Hungarian opposition when he defeated Zoltan Czekus at the Echo Arena Liverpool on 13 March 2010.
On 27 April 2010 Maccarinelli fought Russian prospect Alexander Kotlobay in St Petersburg for the vacant European cruiserweight title. Maccrinelli knocked Kotlobay down once in the first round before ending the fight via TKO at 2:15 of the first round.
Personal life
Maccarinelli attended Bishop Vaughan Catholic school in Swansea. He studied there until sixth form but then carried on with his Boxing career. He is married.
He is a passionate Swansea City supporter, and has appeared at the Liberty Stadium.
See also
Notes and references
- ^ a b BoxRec.com editors. "Enzo Maccarinelli." BoxRec.com. URL accessed 11 July 2006.
- ^ Fightnews.com editors. "Nelson relinquishes title!" 22 September 2006. Fightnews.com. URL accessed 22 September 2006.
- ^ BBC SPORT | Boxing | Awesome Haye stops Maccarinelli
- ^ BBC SPORT | Boxing | Maccarinelli stops Ellis in two
- ^ BBC SPORT | Boxing | Maccarinelli suffers KO loss
- ^ BBC SPORT | Boxing | Maccarinelli Faces The End After Loss
- ^ Russian Loss Signals The End For Enzo
- ^ Enzo: I'm not going to give up yet
- ^ BBC SPORT | Boxing | Jaksi up for Maccarinelli return
- ^ BBC SPORT | Boxing | Maccarinelli beats up Jaksi in first round in Newcastle
External links
- Enzo Maccarinelli - BoxRec Boxing Encyclopedia
- Boxing record for Enzo Maccarinelli from BoxRec (registration required)