By Terence Dooley
What a difference a title win can make, the last time I saw Enzo Maccarinelli he was fighting on the undercard of Paul Smith’s win over Tony Dodson, a single stanza win over Zoltan Czekus, and the popular Welshman, though his usual gregarious self when speaking with me later that night, had seemed a little bit jaded, a man still struggling to come to terms with his recent reversal in form. Defeats to David Haye, in 2008, Ola Afolabi and Denis Lebedev, both in 2009, all three coming by stoppage, had knocked the stuffing out off ‘Big Mac’ and left him staring into the boxing abyss.
On Saturday night, however, Enzo struck a larger than life, confident figure at the Michael Katsidis versus Kevin Mitchell fight. Maccarinelli took a break from soaking up the adulation of the Upton Park fans to tell BoxingScene.com that his make-or-break EBU cruiserweight title win over Alexander Kotlobay had rejuvenated his career.
“It was great to go over there and do what I did after the stuff I’ve been through in the past couple of years. I made a few mistakes in the past and knew I had to fix them myself. Everyone wrote me off, even some fans wrote me off, but I looked at his (Kotlobay’s) record and knew he was made for me. I told everyone I’d knock the boy out in two rounds, and I was right,” smiled Enzo, who told me that he had no doubts in his mind when the fight was announced.
“I’ve handled the big boys in sparring and knew they [the Russian team] were bringing me over so he could smash me up. I said to people, ‘Trust me, I will knock this boy out’. I didn’t feel under any pressure because I knew I could go and knock him out. I’ve got full confidence in my ability and was proved right. No one gave me a chance whatsoever over there and I showed them all that I’ve got a lot to offer. I know what I can do. He was a good, strong boy but hasn’t fought anyone like me. I felt good, sharp, and I feel there is a lot more to come in my career.”
Indeed, Enzo turned down an opportunity to take part in the recent Prizefighter: The Cruiserweights event; though full of admiration for the Prizefighter format, Enzo feels that he deserves more and had no qualms about taking an away day title tilt.
“They offered me this and Prizefighter, there was only one thing, as a fighter, that I’d take and it was this title shot – I got paid a lot less money but I have no problem with that. On paper it was a tough fight but anyone who saw it can see that I’m far from finished,” stressed Enzo, who laughed when recalling some of the pre-fight predictions.
“I know what people were saying, ‘He’s had his day and can’t come back’, people were saying I‘d done well with my career but it was over so I came back and went to my old self, there was only going to be one winner.”
“It wasn’t bad training”, said the former WBU and WBO title-holder when musing over the Lebedev defeat, “Karl [Ince] is a wicked trainer. I tried too hard and was doing things I wasn’t used to doing and which didn’t help me. When I went over to Russian, I was written off and in a hostile environment but it wasn’t like Lebedev, where I was distracted and trying to do things I wasn’t used to – I fought like the old Enzo in the last one and it showed. I lost fairly to Lebedev and Afolabi, but now I’m back.”
Enzo is 32-4 (25 KOs) and could be fighting for a world title in his next fight, the 29-year-old Welshman is on a three-fight, first-round KO winning streak and believes he is living proof that you should never write someone off too quickly.
“If I thought I couldn’t do it then I wouldn’t do it anymore,” promised Enzo. “Don’t get me wrong, I had support from the likes of yourself but a lot of journalists wrote me off and didn’t think I could do well. I appreciate that people have their opinions but thinking I was going to get hammered was way off the mark. Earlier in my career, I was fighting at the MEN arena and earning nice money but I didn’t get to be all I wanted to be and now have that chance – I can be a world champion again.”
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