Enzo Back on Track

Good article on the big man. Probably the fight I'm most looking forward to on
Saturday. Come on ENZO!

The Magnificent Seven might be about showcasing the future of British boxing, but one familiar face will climb into the ring on Saturday night, having been there, seen it, done it.
That man will be Enzo Maccarinelli,

This content is protected

the 30-year-old, 36-fight 'veteran' and former world cruiserweight champion. And a man whose career many thought was over.
In March 2008, Maccarinelli lost to David Haye

This content is protected

in an explosive unification fight, floored in the second round of a whirlwind battle to decide Britain's best at 200lbs. A barrage of punches did for him in a neutral corner and although he was on his feet when the fight was waved off, there was still an almighty fall to come.
He returned to London nine months later to despatch Matthew Ellis in two but the next time he was on a bumper bill, like this Saturday's LG Arena show, things started to unravel in the ring. First he punched himself to a standstill before being toppled by the unknown Ola Afolabi in nine at the MEN Arena on the night Amir Khan

This content is protected

stopped Marco Antonio Barrera.

This content is protected

Then as Warren put his assembled stars together on the same stage again, Maccarinelli fluffed his lines once more, his WBO Inter-Continental bid falling flat on its face against the hard-hitting but unheralded Russian Denis Lebedev.

This content is protected

With three defeats in four, his career in tatters, the Welshman immediately announced he was retiring - and few raised an eyebrow.
But even fewer still knew what was going on away from the glaring spotlight of world-title fights and star-studded cards. Astute observers will have noticed a change in his physique, but that only really told half the story.
Assuming the Haye and Olfabi defeats had broken it, Enzo and his team tried to fix it. They made changes to his preparation and physique. Changes he admits a year on, that were ultimately just for the sake of change.
"People are saying Enzo is back, but to tell you the truth I never really went away," he told skysports.com.
"But these days I just feel comfortable in what I'm doing. Before things went on that people don't know about and things weren't quite right. I'm not going to make any excuses because that's life. I just feel much better about things these days.
"Basically I tried to change my style when I fought Dennis Lebedev. I tried a new type of training, lots of rest and recovery like these sports scientists tell you, but deep down I knew it wasn't working. I knew it wasn't right for me and I'd pretty much had enough.

Comfortable

"I knew the training I was doing was wrong for me and in a way I wasn't that bothered if I got hammered by him, because I could call it a day. I did right after the fight, and when I watched it back I was embarrassed at what I saw. Not embarrassed by getting beaten, but because I knew I hadn't given my best.
"You can have all the fancy training techniques you like but the biggest weapon you can have is psychological and if you don't feel comfortable or confident in what you're doing, you lose that."
This weekend he returns to the scene of his darkest moments in a ring - the MEN Arena. Whether he leaves along with his European cruiserweight belt or the unbeaten, hard-hitting Alexander Frenkel is it's new owner, it will be a different Enzo Maccarinelli heading into the Manchester night.
The last time he left the same venue, the WBO belt he held for three years had long gone, with it his invincibility, his long-time trainer Enzo Calzaghe had gone his separate way before the devastating defeat to Lebedev. The switch to work with Karl Ince had not brought the immediate dividends he had hoped, their 10 weeks together not enough to stop the rot that had already set in.
And Maccarinelli readily admits that even Freddie Roach,

This content is protected

Emmanuel Steward or any one of boxing's blue-riband mentors probably couldn't have helped.
"The hunger had gone," he admitted. "Maybe I had just fallen out of love with boxing.
"I've always loved working with the boys at the amateur gym, and the seniors, I love helping my dad out, but normally when there's any boxing on TV, whether it was the main event or the undercard fights, I would sit down and watch all of them or tape them.
"When Sky used to do Friday Fight Night, those two hours were my time. In the end I found I couldn't be bothered; I'd watch the main event, but not the rest. That hunger had gone. Part of me didn't care against Lebedev."

Confident

All that changed when he watched the fight back. Retirement abandoned, pride dented, Maccarinelli and Ince went back to what the fighter calls "proper old-school training"; running and sparring, sparring and running. Spit and sawdust time.
It was not quite Rocky Balbao chasing chickens round a yard, but the unlikely parallel with Hollywood's favourite fighter were soon to return. As was Enzo Maccarinelli.
Two low-profile first-round wins proved the punch was still there. Then one day, the phone rang and all of a sudden he had a purpose to go with it - the European title he had bypassed on his way to world honours.
"Basically Frank and Dean Powell called me up and offered me two fights: the European title or Prizefighter," he recalls.
"Frank said I could take whichever one I wanted and although I wasn't getting paid an awful lot of money and on paper it was a tougher fight, there was no doubt in my mind.
"Everyone said I was shot, but I was confident that I could go out to Russia and win. I said I'd knock him out in two - and I did it in one."
So like the Italian Stallion had done, Maccarinelli headed to the boxing back-water that is Russia, St Petersburg to be precise. Little TV coverage, even less coverage in the papers, it seemed the boxing world had turned his back on Maccarinelli, even if Warren "who never gave up" on him, hadn't.
There were no log cabins or KGB guards trailing his morning runs, but Maccarinelli was in Alexander Kotlobay's backyard. Born in St Petersburg, he had had 14 of his 17 unbeaten fights there.
On paper the Welshman had the experience and the tools to at least remove the age-old problem of hometown decisions. But crucially, the desire and drive had, unknowingly and slowly, returned.
After 135 seconds and one standing count, Kotlobay and his unbeaten record lay in a confused heap, cowering on the ropes in a corner. Two years and one month after losing his last belt, Maccaranelli finally had another one to call his own. But that was not all he regained that night.

Competitiveness

"If you watch that fight again, you can see when he's down, I'm in the corner with a sick, twisted smile on my face and I haven't had that for a long time," he said.
"It's stupid little things like that that tell you you're not finished. Bit by bit I have got my competitiveness back. I remember one time before going out to Russia I was in the sauna down the gym and this big bloke kept coming in and pouring on more and more hot water. For some reason I just thought 'right, I'm going to stay in here longer than he does' - and I did.
"It took me four hours, but it's that competitive nature that I've always had. Even now when I'm playing cards with the lads, I'm always arguing; I have to win.
"I was just glad I won that because everyone said I was finished - especially all those keyboard-bashers out there on the internet. No-one directly criticised me, I was still the 'likeable Welshman' but they all thought I'd had my day. Fair do's to them, that's their opinion, but that win meant a lot to me."
And that is why, when six of Britain's hopeful young boxers take a stride towards their first world-title attempts on Saturday night, Enzo Maccarinelli will be right alongside them. Ready to be there, see it, do it all over again.