By Terry Dooley

Recognized world Cruiserweight Champion David Haye repelled the challenger to his throne, Enzo Maccarinelli, on Saturday night after 2 clinical rounds of punching.  Champion Haye made sure that his last fight at cruiserweight was a tantalizing teaser as to what the fighter can achieve at heavyweight.

My journey to the fight started off incredibly slowly as a series of traffic problems meant it took a double-eternity for us to leave our town centre here in Manchester.  As we drove past the same sights over and over the lack of progress only served to make us a little jaded as well as impatient, once we left our hometown the journey progressed quickly via pastures new, we were soon joining the throng of anticipant fans at London’s impressive O2 arena (a mock-village in a tent to all extents and purposes).

The fight was seen by many as unfinished business for Haye at the weight.  Despite his fine away win over Jaded Man Mormeck (if you believe the revisionism) in Paris – a fight in which Haye took the WBC/WBA titles as well as the linear division title – Haye had been placed under an obligation to relieve Enzo Maccarinelli of the WBO title Enzo had picked-up after the retirement of Johnny Nelson.

The Haye-Enzo fight had its genesis in the Setanta studio immediately after the Mormeck victory when Enzo, with compliance from Steve Bunce, sought to fool people into thinking that he was somehow pre-eminently entitled to a tilt at the titles that Haye had traveled abroad to win. 

This sense of entitlement spilled over into the eventual promotion, Champion Haye lost the customary Champion’s spot on the left side of the fight promotion posters.  Despite Enzo having his own strap on the line this was the #1 fighter in the division, Haye, accommodating a challenger.  Whatever, Haye made sure that where it counts, namely in the ring, the world knew, posters and ring walks aside, who the Champion is, or was seeing as Haye is now determined to move to heavyweight.

The subversion of the Champion/challenger status that had begun with the posters was continued during the ring walks as Champion Haye made his way to the ring first, despite the fact the challenger is supposed to enter the ring followed by the Champion. 

Pre-fight ‘pay no mind’ games had also seen Frank Warren break his own timescale to bring the press conference forward by 2-hours, only for Haye to stroll in at the allotted time, this after Warren and the two Enzo’s (Maccarinelli and Calzaghe) had exploded in anger.  Warren had only served to send his own team apoplectic using this ‘tactic’.  Disputes over the weigh-in time also backfired as Haye stepped onto the scales looking like a Greek god, twice. 

On fight night Haye again flipped the script on the fudging tactics, Haye made sure he stole any thunder Enzo could have generated by bounding out to the ring dancing to his own entrance music. 

Haye’s ring apron appreciation of the crowd was ominous for Enzo in much the way Roy Jones’ playing to the crowd prior to his bout with James Toney set the scene for Jones’ confident display that night. 

For his part Enzo practically sprinted to the ring, perhaps spurred on by the smattering of booing that had followed the announcement of his name, in a manner reminiscent of the ring run Oliver McCall made before being destroyed by Lennox Lewis in their rematch.  It smacked of trepidation on the side of Enzo, a man who not was savouring the showpiece but, rather, wanted to get it over with as promptly and painlessly as possible.

Throughout the introductions Enzo carried the look of a man who was being swallowed up by the occasion.  Whereas Haye could call upon the experience of fighting Mormeck in Paris to pull him through Enzo was surely finding that the atmosphere and sense of inner-fear was greater than in his last fight, against Mohammed Azzaoui in Wales.

For those of us who had picked Haye to win early and handsomely, it was the clearest sign yet that the pre-fight feeling of Enzo being out of his depth was about to come to fruition.  The crowd felt it also and stayed loud throughout a relatively tepid opening round. 

Macca had what appeared to be a moment of success as a left made Haye stumble but it was merely that, a stumble, as deceptive as the blow to the shoulder that had made it briefly seem that Ricky Hatton had Floyd Mayweather in trouble in their first round. 

A left hook did clip Haye in the 1st only for the Champion to land his own left hook to the head of Enzo; the difference in impact was evident from this exchange. 

The improvements we had seen in the Braithwatie fight were gone and this was the same straight-backed chin up in the air Enzo that we had seen in his telling first fight with Mark Hobson.  Haye, also, was targeting the body with wide right hooks leading this writer to assume that he was going to break Enzo down rather than gamble on the massive finish.

As the bell went to end the 1st it was clear that should the fight go 12-rounds it would finish the career of Enzo rather than Haye.  All this and more was confirmed in the 2nd round as again Haye landed a few swings to the body, this time, though, there was to be no meaningful attacks from Enzo. 

Maccarinelli was putting his jab out a little more but it was simply pushed out, the jab would be half put out then snapped quickly back in before it could land.  With this weakness on the jab negating his most potent weapon Enzo was simply unable to set-up anything of meaning. 

A trickle of blood from the right eye then spurred Haye into action.  A big right hand over another weak jab made an audible thudding sound and robbed Enzo of any little conviction he may have had.  As Enzo retreated to the ropes Haye stalked him and Enzo bounced himself onto a huge right hand that took his legs from under him. 

Bravely Enzo tried to avoid going down, taking a knee may have been a better option to clear his legs and of course his head, instead he clung onto the ropes to keep his footing as Haye moved in for the kill.  A series of punches missed, although a little left hook went in, but the missed blows merely set Enzo up for a clubbing right hand that put Enzo over. 

Before the count could begin Enzo was back onto his feet.  Like Zab Judah, in his fight with Kostya Tszyu, Enzo had not given himself time enough for his legs to recover and he danced crazily into the referee.  Enzo then careened backwards into the ropes, crazily citing a slip.  After seeing Enzo unravel so dramatically referee John Keane had no choice but to wave the contest off at 2:04 of the round.

A jubilant Haye stepped forward to take in the applause of the crowd, if you expect a Champion to enter the ring after his challenger you could have been mistaken as to who was who in this fight but in the event itself the gulf between a Champion and a challenger had been made evident.  All around me the crowd exploded, had in fact been exploding from the moment Haye began to land what became a steady stream of right hands over the lax guard and jab of Enzo.

The jubilance of the crowd was in stark contrast to the Sports Network dominated ringside scene as people stood around in glum shock.  Enzo, and his promoter Frank Warren, had gone all in on Haye having weight and chin whisker problems, only to lose dramatically on every possible level.

For his part Haye claims that the time is now right for a further, and lasting, foray into heavyweight waters.  In this fight David was the Goliath of his division, at heavyweight he will be a David amongst Goliaths, although most of the top guys at heavyweight are seriously flawed. 

Plus the emerging European ‘dominance’ of the division features a fair few fighters who have stiff backs and high chins, meat and drink for Haye.  The truth is that Haye, in my opinion since the Ismail Abdoul snoozer, has been working on making his style a little more Lennox Lewis like, with that said the inherent derring-do of Haye means he is unlikely to ever be as good as Lewis was, although he will certainly be more exciting for the neutral.  As a writer who loved the secure aesthetic ennui of Lewis and Toney, Haye represents the opportunity to watch and appreciate a fighter who brings so much more danger, in both senses, to the table.  A chance to extend boxing enjoyment beyond the conservative safety of Lewis, Vernon Forrest and Toney, and into the danger zones men like Haye and Kelly Pavlik carry with them at all times.

Enzo must now face the hard truth.  You could excuse him by saying he was taking on the best fighter in his division but this excuse is lost to Team Enzo as they told us repeatedly pre-fight, perhaps citing his win over Bobby Gunn, that Enzo was the main man at cruiserweight and it was he who was giving Haye the chance to prove himself, despite the Mormeck fight refuting this claim. 

In truth Haye made Enzo look leagues below world level, if we take Haye as world level, and it begs the question of, if Mormeck can hurt and fight on level terms with Haye, whether Enzo actually was #2 in this division and whether Enzo could now be made favorite over the likes of Cunningham and Mormeck. 

Hopefully Enzo can look back and accept that he got ahead of himself.  In that telling Setanta studio spot, Enzo had emphatically declared what he wanted, a fight/win over Haye, but in boxing you often get not what you want but what you need, and Enzo needed a wake-up call as to the rigors of world level boxing. 

Maccarinelli seems like a good guy, he can now have a short break and knock on his promoter’s door demanding fights with the likes of Mormeck and Cunningham; he owes it to himself to ask for less dough and more filler on his sandwich.  Chances are the Welshman will pick up a vacant title or two (WBO and WBU perhaps) but the onus is then on him to show that he is prepared to legitimize himself, on Saturday’s showing his previously assumed #2 spot in the division is no longer assured.

Overall Saturday night was one of those rare life occasions during which justice is served.  Pre-fight shenanigans were shown to be the acts of a Camp who must have known they were in deep water on the night itself.  Fighting in defense of his WBO or WBU titles at home has not worked for Enzo, and in that sense the whole Frank Warren template – win WBU/WBO title and then defend it until one of the main men is ready to fall off or a naïve youngster steps forward – has been defeated in the most emphatic manner. 

Enzo spent too long meandering through hometown fights seeing, and being rendered jaded and overly impatient due to, the same old same old; instead of becoming fortified by his 12 title defenses (WBU and WBO), Enzo was weakened by them, as shown in this fight against the novice Champion Haye, who was defending his title for the first, and only, time.

Despite the absence of the war the PR machine had, perhaps disingenuously, claimed was going to happen, the fans had lapped-up every moment of the fight, even during its quieter moments.  It all bodes well for boxing in general and Haye in particular.  A 6-month break is wise, fights in quick succession without a rest ruined Kevin Anderson recently; this rest gives Haye a chance to build himself into the heavyweights properly. 

Despite his claims that he will be 2-years and out of boxing Haye is more likely to have a sensational time at heavyweight and, as turned out to be the case at cruiser, will likely find out, as Lennox said, that there is always one more challenge in boxing for a fighter to stick around for.  For now a British heavyweight Champion would be nice, after all we did get used to having one.  In Haye we have a fighter who will go for it; it will be all thrillers with little filler. 

Coda:

So, Enzo Calzaghe now has a big loss on his ledger and is suddenly a poor trainer?  Not in the least.  On Saturday the irrepressible Enzo merely found out, remarkably late, what all trainers must one day know, that defeat can often follow victory and vice versa.  This does not mean that Enzo is any less of a trainer, he could have an especially tough year if his son fails to beat Hopkins and, as expected, Gavin Rees loses, yet at the end of 2008 Enzo will not be any less the trainer he has been throughout the recent years.

One thing, though, that surprised this writer was the heavy concentration on the low left hand of Haye prior to this fight.  I hate fighters carrying a low left simply because so few fighters can do it and carry it off with style; it is a very precocious stance to adopt.  Floyd Mayweather and especially James Toney can do it because they understand that it is about dropping your right to draw and, most importantly, counter your opponent’s jab and right hand.

Haye has often boxed with a low left but if you watch his fights against the likes of Mormeck, Gary Delaney and Vincenzo Rossitto you can see that Haye keeps the left low but is also moving his head slightly and feinting more with his upper body.  This in turn means that when his opponent throws the right Haye slips his head slightly to his own left and delivers a counter right.  Anyone thinking that low left = danger for Haye, and fights accordingly, is going to be surprised very early.  Perhaps Enzo Calzaghe and Maccarinelli did not pay enough attention to what Haye does off this purposefully low left.  Either way Haye is now one of the fighters who can wear the style and make it work to his benefit.