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The next choice of opponent was Dean Francis, the British light-heavyweight champion, who is in the WBO rankings (but at the wrong weight). But Francis was discounted by the WBO and I understand the new opponent will be Ola Afolabi, who was born in Nigeria, raised in London and who now boxes out of the United States. Afolabi, 28, holds the NABO title and is ranked No 5 by the WBO.

http://timesonline.typepad.com/boxing/2 ... n-the.html

Sounds like it is off for sure.

gobbles wrote:

DG. wrote:

Terence wrote:I would fancy Francis in this one.

I agree!

Francis is an old super-middleweight with a bad shoulder, he'd have no chance.

Anyone with a punch has a chance against Macca... Francis ois tough and remember he is a big Light Heavy - plus I do not rate enzo that much.

whicker wrote:Sounds like it is off for sure.

There's no chance of Maccarinlli vs Ramirez for the 14th of March 2009.

so we going to have two WBO interim champions?

stujones wrote:so we going to have two WBO interim champions?

In the article I provided the link to, it says that Ramirez is going to be the full champion.

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/sport ... ticle.html

Enzo to fight in April for Title and in March

leforge wrote:http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/sport ... ticle.html

Enzo to fight in April for Title and in March

Nice scoop

Going to be tough to get a non-dangerous top 10 guy out of whats left at short notice

There is some logic in that article- he has to fight a top ten rated fighter before challenging for the title.

Up until now it seems that his right to a title bout stemmed from the fact that he was a former champion , albiet one who lost decisivly.

January rankings

1 Johnathon Banks USA -Fight planned
2 Alexander Alekseev (Int-Cont) RUS ? just beaten
3 Enzo Maccarinelli GB
4 Herbie Hide GB Fight planned
5 Ola Afolabi (NABO) GB ? - looking for title shot in US
6 Lawrence Tauasa (Oriental) SAM ? - just got Ko'd in 2 by Troy Ross
7 Victor E. Ramirez ARG OUT-resting
8 Grigory Drozd (Asia-Pacific) RUS Fight planned
9 BJ Flores USA ? - unbeaten (beat Mitch Hicks last fight)
10 Marco Huck GER ? - Sauerland fighter

Looks like BJ Flores or Troy Ross who just beat Tauasa

It be Afolabi I sure.

leforge wrote:http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/sport ... ticle.html

Enzo to fight in April for Title and in March

I mentioned Lawrence Tauasa a while back, before his loss to Troy Ross (rhythmical) in The Contender. It won't be Alexeev, no way. Could be Ola Ofolabi. Won't be Flores or Huck, imo.

My T Sharp wrote:January rankings

1 Johnathon Banks USA -Fight planned
2 Alexander Alekseev (Int-Cont) RUS ? just beaten
3 Enzo Maccarinelli GB
4 Herbie Hide GB Fight planned
5 Ola Afolabi (NABO) GB ? - looking for title shot in US
6 Lawrence Tauasa (Oriental) SAM ? - just got Ko'd in 2 by Troy Ross
7 Victor E. Ramirez ARG OUT-resting
8 Grigory Drozd (Asia-Pacific) RUS Fight planned
9 BJ Flores USA ? - unbeaten (beat Mitch Hicks last fight)
10 Marco Huck GER ? - Sauerland fighter

Looks like BJ Flores or Troy Ross who just beat Tauasa

Nah, Flores wants none of it. Troy Ross is still taking part in The Contender! I agree with leforge that Afolabi looks to be the best shout at the moment.

Afolabi does look likely but doesn't he still fight for Duva in the US with a TV deal. Would have to be some decent money for him to fight Enzo in a non title match :??

Didn't realise that was a Contender fight...By the way WBO rankings are subject to change

My T Sharp wrote:Afolabi does look likely but doesn't he still fight for Duva in the US with a TV deal. Would have to be some decent money for him to fight Enzo in a non title match :??

Didn't realise that was a Contender fight...By the way WBO rankings are subject to change

If you want to watch The Contender, you can download all the episodes (so far) here: http://forum.boxrec.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=94434

Out of the WBO rankings only Lawrence Tauasa (he'll probably want a rest though) and Ola Afolabi are potentials in my mind. They might have to re-rank someone to make the fight.

Asterix wrote:

My T Sharp wrote:Afolabi does look likely but doesn't he still fight for Duva in the US with a TV deal. Would have to be some decent money for him to fight Enzo in a non title match :??

Didn't realise that was a Contender fight...By the way WBO rankings are subject to change

If you want to watch The Contender, you can download all the episodes (so far) here: http://forum.boxrec.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=94434

Out of the WBO rankings only Lawrence Tauasa (he'll probably want a rest though) and Ola Afolabi are potentials in my mind. They might have to re-rank someone to make the fight.

Cheers mate, I hope Tauasa wins DD

Has there ever been a more uninspiring championship career than Enzo's (amongst Brits)? Calzaghe's was ropey for long stretches but there were plenty of decent fights in there with the likes of Brewer, Reid, Woodhall etc. To me Maccarinelli's career is the nadir of Warren's promotional approach. Just cannot get excited about his career and I thought his reaction to the Haye loss was delusional. I happen to think he seems a nice enough guy with good ability which makes it even more frustrating.

Tauasa has a mouth watering resume for those of us looking to guffaw.

Matt W wrote:Just cannot get excited about his career and I thought his reaction to the Haye loss was delusional.

You hit the nail on the head there.

Unfortunately, on Buncey's show, he complained about the amount of stick he gets on forums, which I'm sure most boxers could say too.

I think it would be better to just accept the reality of your situation and admit that your career has been the result of an incredibly cautious strategy of record padding, while the person who knocked you out just went all out for greatness and had a far superior record to you. Really, Macaroni should just be grateful to have shared the ring with Haye, there are plenty of more deserving challengers and better boxers, like Junior Witter, who have been frozen out by popular British fighters like Hatton. Haye had no need to give Macaroni a shot, he was way beyond that level, but he put it all on the line because fans wanted to see it. It was pretty much the only way that Macaroni was going to have a proper fight.

What I find a little odd too is the way that they seem keen to give Maccarinelli and automatic rematch for the WBO title.

That said, what are we looking at now? An intrim fight, which if he wins gets him a shot at the guy he was meant to be fighting in the first place?

leforge wrote:It be Afolabi I sure.

Good shout - it is him

For the Interim title then I presume winner fights Ramirez for main title.

leforge wrote:For the Interim title then I presume winner fights Ramirez for main title.

Apparently its just inter-continental crap but the winner will fight Ramirez for the title I would think thats a gimmee

For whatever reason, Enzo's career has seriously stalled lately.

steve689 wrote:For whatever reason, Enzo's career has seriously stalled lately.

Well, it's only 11 months since he was seriously knocked out in a World Title fight. T
His "comeback" fight was apparantly going to be a challenge for the title again, but that went messy and he ended up with Matthew Ellis.

I'm not really sure why they didn't just give him a couple of 8 rounders on undercards to get him back into it.