By John Hargate

 

Former WBO cruiserweight world champion Enzo Maccarinelli continues his comeback against Shane McPhilbin on March 23rd at the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton. Maccarinelli had announced his intention to campaign in the light-heavyweight division but takes this shot back up at cruiserweight against new British champion Shane McPhilbin. McPhilbin tore the Lonsdale belt from previous holder Leon Williams in a dramatic last round turnaround that saw McPhilbin stop the Londoner who only needed to survive the last three minutes for a wide points win.

BoxingScene.com caught up with Enzo ringside at the York Hall where he was commentating for BoxNation on the Kevin Mitchell vs Felix Lora fight. I started by asking Enzo if the move back to cruiserweight was permanent?

“I’m fighting two weeks time in Cardiff,” said Maccarinelli I’m going to be weighing about 12st10lbs. I’m still at light-heavyweight but when you look at the scene and all the fighters being tied up I was pretty much stuck doing nothing.”

“They offered me the fight and I just want to keep busy,” Enzo continued. “People don’t realise, on fight night as a light-heavy, I’m pretty much the same weight as what I used to be as a cruiserweight anyway.

“In my last fight I weighed 13st6lbs on fight night – the same weight I boxed Wayne Braithwaite at. I can fluctuate between the two. People think I’m being big headed and that I’ve cut an awful lot of weight to get down to light heavy. I haven’t. I looked at my diet a bit and basically do my weight cutting in the last two days. Obviously I’ve had to be a bit stricter with diet, because I can’t go too far over but that’s about it.”

How did the McPhilbin fight come about?

“Dean Powell phoned me and offered me the fight, and I said yeah, no problem at all.” Enzo smiled widely in his relaxed, personable, easygoing manner. It’s impossible not to like the gregarious Welshman.

I asked Enzo if he still believed he could get back to world class? “100%” he answered resolutely.

“I’ve got all the tools in the world. Against some of the top world cruiserweights I was probably at a bit of a disadvantage on fight night where I would weight about 13st8lbs at the weight in and on fight night I’d still be 13st8lbs. They’d be close to 15st2lbs, 15st3lbs on fight night. And I was still pretty much too strong! Against Frenkel, yes, it was a nasty ending, but apart from that, he wasn’t in the fight.

“My temperament to try and finish a fight gets me in trouble. That’s what I’ve learnt – that’s what I’ve worked on with Enzo Calzaghe. I’m back to my boxing rather than my power.”

What or who would be the goal after McPhilbin?

“Nathan Cleverly is the one I want,” Enzo replied seriously. “Me and Tony Bellew are friends. Tony has shown me a lot of respect in the past and I never forget things like that. Nathan Cleverly and his father have shown me a lot of disrespect. I used to like Nathan, but it’s got to the point where I don’t anymore.

“It is what it is. I didn’t want to fight him when I first made the decision to come to light-heavy, so obviously with being friends with Tony Bellew, it left me with nowhere to go. But Nathan’s Dad started saying a few things – I’m not going to get into what he said, but people can make their own assumptions. Nathan thinks I’ve been slagging his Dad off – I haven’t – I’ve just said what I know he’s done. If people knew then they’d understand why I’ve got this grudge towards him.

“It’s a stadium filler in Swansea or in Cardiff. That’s the one I want. Like I said, he used to be a friend of mine but he’s not anymore. They’ve disrespected me, they’ve tried to put me down.

“In the meantime,” Enzo continued, “I’ll fight whoever I can. I need fights. I’ve already been through the stage of my career where I was finishing fights early and I was having to wait three or four months for another fight and the same would happen again. It was hard going then.

“I just want to stay busy and keep on top of things. Enjoy the fight game – I know I haven’t got long left in it. I’ve got a lot of other things going on. I train fighters in a really top class amateur gym with loads of Welsh and British Champions we produced last year. Bonymaen ABC it’s called. My father used to run it but he’s recently passed away so me and my brother have recently taken over. I don’t really want to let it go to the dogs because it’s produced some really great boys. Got a couple of future stars there definitely.”

The future looks bright for Enzo too. If he has anything left – and I believe he has – he should stop McPhilbin early. Most likely from a left hook to the body in the second or third. That will, in all likelihood, set up a mouthwatering summer grudge match with Nathan Cleverly in Wales.