By Phil D. Jay
Since announcing his return to the sport at light-heavyweight, former world cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli has been linked with a British domestic bust-up with fellow Welshman Nathan Cleverly, speculation that Cleverley’s father Vince has been quick to quell.
Vince Cleverly, who also trains his son, has spoken out of his desire to see WBO champion Nathan (22-0) move into some world-class 175lb match-ups after his world title triumph last month at the O2 Arena in London.
“A fight against Maccarinelli isn’t something we’d go for at the present time, it’s not worth it,” said Vince.
“It’s not on Nathan’s radar. He has got the likes of Pascal, Hopkins or Tavoris Cloud to go for.
“There are some massive opportunities for Nathan before Enzo. If it did happen with Enzo, it would be over pretty quickly.
“But we’ve got to think about what the public would say. They’d think, ‘well, he has only beaten a shot fighter anyway’.
Maccarinelli (32-5, 25 KO’s), has been out of the ring since being viciously knocked out by Alexander Frenkel last September and at 30, will need to get back in form quickly, in order to be in a position to challenge Cleverly if he can beat Braehmer in May.
“If Enzo gets back to the top that would be fantastic and I wish him all the best but I still don’t think he’d beat Nathan at light heavyweight,” added Vince Cleverly.
Phil D. Jay covers the boxing scene for worldboxingnews.net
