Joe Calzaghe Hopes Maccarinelli Revives Career at 175

By Phil D. Jay

Former undisputed super-middleweight champion has thrown his weight behind good friend Enzo Maccarinelli’s return to the ring at 175lbs. The former cruiserweight world title holder is deep in training with Calzaghe’s father, also called Enzo and according to the Welshman, is looking good as he boils down the necessary 20-pounds.

“I watched him training the other day and he looks in good shape but it’s not until he starts sparring and fighting at the new weight that we’ll see how he gets on,” Calzaghe told walesonline.co.uk.

“At the end of the day, he was never a big cruiserweight, he was quite a small cruiserweight.

“He’s fighting at 175lbs now and he is in great shape and he’s young enough.

Maccarinelli is approaching his 31st birthday next month and has an mixed eight-fight run behind him at the 200lb limit, with four knockout victories within two rounds and four knockout defeats. The catalyst for his indifferent form seemed to be losing his WBO title to David Haye in March 2008 and Calzaghe hopes the Swansea fighter can put the losses behind him and start with a fresh outlook.

“Obviously, he’s had a few bad knockout losses but if you look at his defeats he wasn’t getting hammered, especially his last fight, he was winning,” Calzaghe stated.

“He made a mistake and got caught with a big punch and got knocked out but he’s still hungry and is only 30.

“He wants another crack and if he does perform at the new weight, I think there are some big fights out there for him.

“He was a world champion at the end of the day and a world class fighter, you can’t take that away from him,” he added.

Phil D. Jay covers the boxing scene for worldboxingnews.net