BoxRec

So now its Afolabi? Not much of an opponent going by the record and its only for the 'interim' belt. When you look through the top 30-40 fighters at cruiser there is a myriad of talent. Either Macca's people have no faith in him or FW has lost interest because the matchmaking situation with Maccarinelli since the Haye fight has been compeltely laughable.

Apparently it's not a bad fight as Ola has beaten a cruiserweight prospect recently. They're waiting for this Argentinian who I believe has been made WBO full champion. Because he'd beaten Alexeev so recently, the Argue wasn't ready to come over on time.

Afolabi is not that bad. His technique isn't up to much but he's awkward as hell and punches harder than you might think. Also he has beaten Orlin Norris and that undefeated prospect guy whose name I forget so despite his lack of pro fights its not a bad fight. Be surprised if it turned out to be like the Bobby Gunn fiasco but I would expect Enzo to win.

If Macca beats Ofalabi and then Ramirez, that's two good back-to-back fights. There's no point just slagging it off because it's on a Warren show - if it's a decent fight, say so. That Manchester bill has 4 decent fights on it.
Shame such matches aren't making the Friday night show, so we have to make do with prospects v no-hopers as a top of the bill.

Afolabi beating Eric Fields was a big upset. It gave him quite a bit of recognition.

Eric Fields was growing tired in the 8th round and Afolabi saw his opportunity - dropping his man twice with hurtful uppercuts. Fields made it into the 10th and final round, but was decked again - this time with an overhand right. Fields rose yet again, but was under major pressure and referee Bob Howard had no choice but to dive in and call a halt to the proceedings. With his shock win, Afolabi picked up the vacant NABO cruiserweight strap.

http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php?t ... ht:1291368

Afolabi isn't a bum and I'm not sure Sport Network could have done much better.

gobbles wrote:If Macca beats Ofalabi and then Ramirez, that's two good back-to-back fights. There's no point just slagging it off because it's on a Warren show - if it's a decent fight, say so. That Manchester bill has 4 decent fights on it.
Shame such matches aren't making the Friday night show, so we have to make do with prospects v no-hopers as a top of the bill.

What's happening with the WBO title? I've read reports saying Ramirez was upgraded to WBO champ. Whereas elsewhere I've read that Macca is the WBO champ (which I can't believe).

Definitely Ola and Ramirez shold be good fights. Much better than we've been conditioned to expect. Absolutely, these fights would be cracking FFN fare.

I feel sorry for Macca, while he does have his limitations at world level he deserves better than this shite.

Sure the guy may turn out to be a tough opponent but I can think of at least 10-15 Cruisers off the top of my head who are more worthy than this guy.
Ultimately he's an unknown with a handful of fights who's biggest win is over an unproven prospect and has never been at anything like this level.
He was meant to be fighting Banks. Then Ramirez. Now this guy.
I mean come on. This is getting back to the days when Hamed was defending against the likes of Said Lawal and more recently Scott Harrison's farcical blow out of Kedebe for the featherweight 'world' title.
If Macca wins it proves nothing other than promoters are willing to promote and fighters are continuing to fight for this 'interim' title nonsense. And make no mistake about it the situation with 'interim' is total, complete and utter nonsense.

WayoftheCass wrote:Sure the guy may turn out to be a tough opponent but I can think of at least 10-15 Cruisers off the top of my head who are more worthy than this guy.
Ultimately he's an unknown with a handful of fights who's biggest win is over an unproven prospect and has never been at anything like this level.
He was meant to be fighting Banks. Then Ramirez. Now this guy.
I mean come on. This is getting back to the days when Hamed was defending against the likes of Said Lawal and more recently Scott Harrison's farcical blow out of Kedebe for the featherweight 'world' title.
If Macca wins it proves nothing other than promoters are willing to promote and fighters are continuing to fight for this 'interim' title nonsense. And make no mistake about it the situation with 'interim' is total, complete and utter nonsense.

If Macca wins the interim title it means he gets a 50-50 split in a purse bid. Beside which, he was supposed to face Banks for the vacant title while Ramirez boxed the interim. yes it's bad there's an interim set up at the same time as the main title, but you ca't just make dream matches. Warren won a purse bid for the fight with Banks, then Banks pulled out. It takes two to make a fight.
The only other option is to have Maccarinelli wait for Ramirez to be ready. He spent six months waiting for the Banks fight, he's entitled to earn some money.

They should have got bobby gunn again.

No. It should be the long awaited rematch with Lee Swaby.

gobbles wrote:

WayoftheCass wrote:Sure the guy may turn out to be a tough opponent but I can think of at least 10-15 Cruisers off the top of my head who are more worthy than this guy.
Ultimately he's an unknown with a handful of fights who's biggest win is over an unproven prospect and has never been at anything like this level.
He was meant to be fighting Banks. Then Ramirez. Now this guy.
I mean come on. This is getting back to the days when Hamed was defending against the likes of Said Lawal and more recently Scott Harrison's farcical blow out of Kedebe for the featherweight 'world' title.
If Macca wins it proves nothing other than promoters are willing to promote and fighters are continuing to fight for this 'interim' title nonsense. And make no mistake about it the situation with 'interim' is total, complete and utter nonsense.

If Macca wins the interim title it means he gets a 50-50 split in a purse bid. Beside which, he was supposed to face Banks for the vacant title while Ramirez boxed the interim. yes it's bad there's an interim set up at the same time as the main title, but you ca't just make dream matches. Warren won a purse bid for the fight with Banks, then Banks pulled out. It takes two to make a fight.
The only other option is to have Maccarinelli wait for Ramirez to be ready. He spent six months waiting for the Banks fight, he's entitled to earn some money.

Dream Matches? Are you being serious? Banks was a competitive fight. Ramirez COULD be a darkhorse in the division. Like I said before I can name 10-15 opponents that are more qualified than the guy they got. PLUS Ramirez is defending the apparent 'real' version of the title 4 weeks after Macca fights this unknown.
Its a farcical. By the time he fights next , it will have been a year since Haye and in that time he's fought Mathew Ellis who is a heartbeat away from being a stiff and this guy who is a total nobody. If this is the best that his promoter's can do then perhaps Macca should follow his stable mate's, leave FW and get some real fights.

Enzo's next 2 fights sound alright, if they happen.

He needs to get a move on seriously otherwise he'll go down as one of the worst world champions ever. He has the talent to be a good champion.

Autobarn wrote:Enzo's next 2 fights sound alright, if they happen.

He needs to get a move on seriously otherwise he'll go down as one of the worst world champions ever. He has the talent to be a good champion.

Come one, he's clearly not the worst world champion in his own gym

But the wins over Azzaoui and Gunn are simply atrocious calibre of opposition and Mark Hobson, a good British fighter but not a world class fighter, nearly beat him (in an admittedly excellent fight).

On the other hand, he showed grit to beat washed up Dominguez and skills to beat past his best Braithwaite. Then the Haye fight happened...

I've liked Enzo's repertoire of shots, but can he show them vs better names than Ellis and Gunn? In other words does he have the right stuff if the guy isn't a punching bag?


Enzo could be one of the better cruiserweight champs but unless he does something big - like getting Afolabi, Ramirez out of the way, and then beating top man Adamek - he wil go down as one of the lesser champs in cruiserweight's hardly stellar history. There haven't been that many good cruiserweight champs after Holyfield, Haye, JC Gomez.