BoxRec

From allegedly TV -

Iain Axon 28/02/06
Dynamite-punching Welshman Enzo Maccarinelli plans to take it out on Mark Hobson when the Yorkshireman steps in to replace Johnny Nelson on the big M.E.N card at the weekend.

Maccarinelli will now defend his WBU World Cruiserweight title against Hobson on Saturday night following the withdrawal of WBO king Nelson due to a knee injury suffered in training.

"When I got the news about Nelson I was just about to begin sparring, so the guys I was working with that day got a bit of pasting," said Maccarinelli.

"I was gutted when I heard about Johnny, but as soon as I heard Hobson was in, I was up for the fight.

"I've been in this game long enough to get used to things changing in the build up to fights, and getting another one of my British rivals was great news. Now I get to bash him up instead.

"My preparation has gone really well and I'm fitter and stronger than ever before, so I can't wait to fight in front of a massive crowd and live on ITV."

Current British and Commonwealth Cruiserweight champion Hobson, 29, has an impressive record, and his team have boasted that he'll have too much for 25-year-old Maccarinelli.
But Enzo shrugged off those suggestions.

" His trainer (Chris Aston) has been boasting on a couple of websites about how Hobson is going to win," said Maccarinelli.
"But he won't be in the ring with his man on Saturday - and he'll wish he stayed at home with his keyboard.

"Hobson himself always talks about how he beat Lee Swaby, who I lost to, and Bruce Scott, who I got off the floor to beat.

"What he forgets is that I was 19 when I fought Swaby and was handling him easily until I got stupidly got caught. Hobson was given all he could handle by Swaby and then some more.

"And the Bruce Scott he fought was badly out of shape and even then he couldn't knock him out like I did."

Meanwhile British featherweight champion Andy Morris has been ruled out of a title defence against Rendall Munroe on the Manchester card because of a hand injury and cut he picked up in sparring.

Maccarinelli-Hobson will be chief support to Joe Calzaghe's WBO/IBF match up with Jeff Lacy, which begins at 2am in the UK, 9pm Eastern time in the USA and will be shown live on ITV1 and Showtime.

ITV1 viewers can watch all the action from the M.E.N Arena from 11.10pm until 3.10am, with a re-run of the fight shown again on Sunday morning from 11.25am until 12.55pm

I have to tip Enzo in this one. He's been preparing for the fight of his life, and Hobson has been out of the ring for a while now. That said, Maccarinelli has been fighting some truly dire opposition, so Hobson is a definite step up. But even with the doubts about the Welshman's chin, I think he'll just have too much heavy artillery for a rusty Hobson. Macca inside 8 rounds.

Agreed. For all his flaws, Macaranelli is a very concussive puncher and quick with it.

I've got a feeling that Hobson might spring a surprise here. Macaranelli has been the busier , but the level of competition hasn't been much.

If Hobson can ride the first 3 rounds, he will have to take some big shots, but i've not seen much evidence that Hobson has a week chin.
I think Hobson will come into the fight and win on points

Sorry disagree.

Hobson in 8 rounds for me. Macc is over-rated and will get found out on Saturday.

Yes, he has heavy artillary when fighting jounrney men light-heavies who dont hit him back. Hobson is a big, durable genuine cruiserweight and champion with ability.

My arguement is that Hobson wont allow Macc to come foward throwing shots and get on top of him. Hobson has the ability and power in the right hand to force him onto the backfoot. This is where Macc is going to be uncomfortable - unchartered territory for him.

Macc still has to answer a lot of questions about his chin, all round boxing ability, power at genuine championship level. I think he has heart - he proved that against Scott.

Inactivity wont prove to be too much of a factor in this fight, Hobson has been in serious training since Xmas and Macc hasnt had a challenge in the ring since he fought Scott.

Yeah i fancy Enzo late on by TKO, i think Enzo's power will show & he'll stop Hobson from 8-12.

If Hobson loses i wonder if he'll still fight Haye ???

jimmy from the green wrote:
Hobson in 8 rounds for me. Macc is over-rated and will get found out on Saturday.

I agree Macc is over-rated, but he will simply have too much power and skill for Hobson. Macc will be exposed when he fights for a major world title.

This should be a decent test for Macc though.

I reckon Hobson myself - I do like Maccarinelli though, seems a good honest bloke who has a desire to learn the trade.

Still...I think Hobson has mixed in slightly better company and should really be able to keep himself away from Macca's bombs.

Enzo has had a few too many soft match ups of late and it will be interested to see how he will cope when he gets hit.

I dislike both fighters. I'd prefer a double KO but failing that I'd like Hobson to win. I think he can do it because Macaroni chin has some faults. Hobson is pretty bad himself. None of these will ever do anything on the world scene.

lirva33 wrote:I dislike both fighters. I'd prefer a double KO but failing that I'd like Hobson to win. I think he can do it because Macaroni chin has some faults. Hobson is pretty bad himself. None of these will ever do anything on the world scene.

Yep, good constructive post that one - why bother - fancy a bet? Ooops forgot you dont pay em do ya!

lirva33 wrote:I dislike both fighters. I'd prefer a double KO but failing that I'd like Hobson to win. I think he can do it because Macaroni chin has some faults. Hobson is pretty bad himself. None of these will ever do anything on the world scene.

Any reasons?

Why are Hobson and Macca no good in your opinion?

have to say i agree with most people on here , you really are a troll

lawllb wrote:

jimmy from the green wrote:
Hobson in 8 rounds for me. Macc is over-rated and will get found out on Saturday.

I agree Macc is over-rated, but he will simply have too much power and skill for Hobson. Macc will be exposed when he fights for a major world title.

This should be a decent test for Macc though.

I agree with that assessment. Might not be a great fight, Hobson has been out for a year and Enzo has only had 6 rounds in that time.

topper123 wrote:

lirva33 wrote:I dislike both fighters. I'd prefer a double KO but failing that I'd like Hobson to win. I think he can do it because Macaroni chin has some faults. Hobson is pretty bad himself. None of these will ever do anything on the world scene.

Any reasons?

Why are Hobson and Macca no good in your opinion?

have to say i agree with most people on here , you really are a troll

macaroni fights pastis and was almost killed by swaby. lucky to last against scott as well. who has he fought? a whos who of bums.

hobson was plastered the only times he stepped up. hes a lousy fighter IMO, would get sparked into next week by any world class fighter.

damn i feel good!

unfortunatly both Macca and Hobson have missed out on career advancing fights in Nelson and Haye.

The winner of this Macca v Hobson will at least be able to challenge Haye for the Euro title.
I doubt that Nelson will be back, he said the other day that the knee will only be 80% correct from now on, and he will be back at the earliest training in 6 months, could be as long as a year.
I feel he will retire rather than facing that long a layoff.

Wether Macca or Hobson are world class does not matter that much, what we have on Saturday is a good domestic clash , which is hard to pick a winner from.

lirva33 wrote:

topper123 wrote:

lirva33 wrote:I dislike both fighters. I'd prefer a double KO but failing that I'd like Hobson to win. I think he can do it because Macaroni chin has some faults. Hobson is pretty bad himself. None of these will ever do anything on the world scene.

Any reasons?

Why are Hobson and Macca no good in your opinion?

have to say i agree with most people on here , you really are a troll

macaroni fights pastis and was almost killed by swaby. lucky to last against scott as well. who has he fought? a whos who of bums.

hobson was plastered the only times he stepped up. hes a lousy fighter IMO, would get sparked into next week by any world class fighter.

damn i feel good!

You know absolutely nothing about boxing mate and exist only to wind up genuine boxing fans - how can you be a lousy fighter and have a lonsdale belt sat on your mantle piece - you are a prick.

lirva33 wrote:I dislike both fighters. I'd prefer a double KO but failing that I'd like Hobson to win. I think he can do it because Macaroni chin has some faults. Hobson is pretty bad himself. None of these will ever do anything on the world scene.

So what if they do or don't do anything? They are still not bums the way you portray them to be. For someone who is supposedly a boxing fan, you have very little respect for fighters, especially considering that any of them would batter you senseless. They are braver, tougher and more skilful and more well respected on here than you will ever be.

So what if they do or don't do anything? They are still not bums the way you portray them to be. For someone who is supposedly a boxing fan, you have very little respect for fighters, especially considering that any of them would batter you senseless. They are braver, tougher and more skilful and more well respected on here than you will ever be.[/quote]


why dont you get in the ring instead????

Macca has a great repertoire of shots & a brutal left hook. he has an excellent armoury. problem is, how is he expected to develop sufficiently if he's been fed snacks like Lamontagne and Heinechen? all it does is allow him to overestimate his own power, giving him a possible false sense of security - while his glossy record and promoter's influence propels him into a sellable world title fight.

that's why this Hobson fight is a good thing. he should've been doing this after the Bruce Scott fight, before even thinking of world titles. imagine if Macca ends up with Nelson's WBO title, who may give it up due to the injury...how many showcase will we have to suffer through?

lirva, say something constructive or pis s off

I think Hobson's inactivity is a key factor here, I think the edge in power in favour of Enzo is also key.

Both aren't the greatest defensively, and Hobson has the power to KO Maccrinelli no doubt - I just think Enzo will land the telling blows first.

Yeah, I think Enzo too. His preperation for the Nelson fight will mean he is ready for anything. As long as he keeps his cool, all should go according to plan.

How do you guys feel Macca would fare against Haye though??

That would be a very good domestic scrap.

I would pick Haye to win that, unless Haye got slack and Enzo caught him flush with a cheeky one.

btw - this fight appears to be for the WBU title. Now in the wider scheme of tings, this fight is bigger than the title, with the winner surely going on to a european or world title shot soon enough. However, I think this means Hobson will be stripped of his commonwealth belt. Remember Skelton lost his? I'm pretty sure too you're stripped just for fighting for it, not just if you win it

stujones wrote:I think Hobson's inactivity is a key factor here, I think the edge in power in favour of Enzo is also key.

Both aren't the greatest defensively, and Hobson has the power to KO Maccrinelli no doubt - I just think Enzo will land the telling blows first.

I think that inactvity is been quoted too much in the preview of this fight. Yes, I am biased towards Hobson and believe him to be underated by most. However, there are different types of inactivity. Mark has not been injured, had no "scan queries", and has not taken time out of boxing or the gym. Only problems with his former promoter stopped him fighting.

Ring rust is a better term, however surely this will be more or less balanced out by Enzo's lack of competition in his last few bouts?
Hobson has also had his frustrations with opponents pulling out and will be looking to take this out on Enzo.

Posters also seem to forget that Hobson is still the British & Commonwealth Cruiser Champ and has been fighting championship bouts for a number of years now. although this seems to count for little....

Anyway, we will find out alot more on Saturday evening and I am hoping Mark will prove the majority wrong!! HOBSON, HOBSON....

The Graham Houston preview -

http://www.fightwriter.com/?q=node/45&P ... 0e2f7e3548