Boxing: Battered Enzo will bounce back, insists Warren

Mar 10 2008 by Phil Blanche, Western Mail

FRANK WARREN insisted that there is still a bright future for Enzo Maccarinelli despite his Docklands despair in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Maccarinelli was blown away by David Haye in front of 20,000 fans at the 02 Arena in Greenwich and must now take a mandatory break from the gym after his second-round knockout.

But, with Haye giving up three world cruiserweight belts in a bid to realise his dream of becoming a heavyweight king, Maccarinelli’s manager expects the Welshman to bounce back into the title picture.

IBF champion Steve Cunningham could be enticed while Haye reckoned his recent Florida sparring partner BJ Flores and Maccarinelli would be a “good fight”.

“It’s not the end of the world for Enzo,” said Warren, revealing that his anguish at Maccarinelli’s defeat was multiplied by a lost wager on his man at the bookies.

“Nigel Benn lost to Michael Watson and went on to win world titles.

“Enzo’s certainly got the talent to do it. I’ve still got faith in Enzo, even though we got this fight wrong.

“We talked about it a lot and the other Enzo (Calzaghe) fancied it, and a lot of you (the press) had different opinions on who would win.

“I really did think Enzo would beat him, but the best man won.

“We don’t get many wrong but that’s boxing.

“David’s a good fighter but he got knocked out by Carl Thompson, then he came back and now holds three belts.

“Knowing the bloke he is, Enzo will come back and hopefully he’ll be stronger for this.”

Before being demolished by Haye, Warren had spoken about the desire for Maccarinelli to meet Cunningham and unify the cruiserweight division.

Ironically, Cunningham might now fancy the fight more after the Welshman’s second career defeat.

“If I could make Cunningham fight I would, because it’s not as if Enzo’s banged up at all,” said Warren.

“He got caught and it took everything out of him, but within 10 seconds of the referee stepping in and stopping the fight, he was OK.

“Fighting Enzo maybe more attractive to Cunningham now, but boxing’s about winners – and the winner at the moment is David Haye.”

Reflecting on the five-minute contest, Warren admitted that Maccarinelli made a mistake by bouncing straight back after being tagged by Haye’s crashing right hand.

“We know Haye’s got a great punch and Enzo never got over it,” he said.

“Enzo did hurt him in the first round with the first punch he threw, but when you get two guys who throw bombs and one connects, then it’s lights out. That’s what happens.

“If Enzo had got through the first three or four rounds, then I think it would have been a different fight.

“But he got clipped and that was it. I don’t think he was overwhelmed because you could see both men were a little bit wary of taking big punches.

“It wasn’t that they set about each other.

“Enzo got caught with a good shot and should have gone down to take the count. But he jumped up and unfortunately that was his undoing.”

Haye now plans to market himself as Britain’s great heavyweight hope, rescuing what he sees as a mediocre division filled with ordinary fighters from the former Soviet bloc.

But Warren – who believes the 02 Arena promotion has helped put Haye on the boxing map – remained non-commital when asked if the Londoner would make a successful step-up.

“You will only find out if he has power at heavyweight when he fights a decent heavyweight,” he said.

“We know he can punch, but we also know that he’s a bit suspect on the chin – and heavyweights throw bigger punches than cruiserweights.

“He’s not a big heavyweight and it will be interesting.

“But if I was advising him I’d tell him to fight Cunningham next up and get all the cruiserweight belts.

“He made the weight here and said he had done it very comfortably.”