Braehmer beats Maccarinelli; Pulev defeats Perkovic

By Vladimir S - 04/05/2014 - Comments

Former WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (38-7, 30 KO’s) put in a game performance in losing to WBA World light heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer (43-2, 32 KO’s) by a 6th round TKO tonight at the Stadthalle, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The fight was stopped due to swelling to Maccarinelli’s right eye after the 5th round. Maccarinelli’e eye had swelled up completely to where he couldn’t see out of it after the 1st round.

Maccarinelli complained that he couldn’t see out of it following the 2nd. But surprisingly, Maccarinelly fought well in the 4th and 5th rounds, and he landed some really nice shots to control both of those rounds. Braehmer was doing a lot of holding in between landing his punches, and just waiting until the fight was halted. Braehmer didn’t have the power to stand in and trade with Maccarinelli once he started swinging for the fences in the 4th, so he played it safe with constant clinching.

Maccarinelli said after the fight “I couldn’t see the punches. I would feel one and then try to land one. I thought I could have done a lot better, but I just couldn’t see. I wouldn’t call for a rematch. I think it was a clash of head. I would love a rematch with two eyes.”

Braehmer would do well to give Maccarinelli a rematch, because it’s not as if he anyone else to fight at 175. Braehmer’s German handlers are likely not going to match him against the other 175lb champions Adonis Stevenson, Bernard Hopkins and Sergey Kovalev, because those guys would obviously be way too much for him. As it is, Braehmer was getting handled pretty well tonight by a desperate Maccarinelli in the 4th and 5th. Can you imagine what Stevenson, Hopkins and Kovalev would do to Braehmer? It wouldn’t be pretty.

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No.1 IBF heavyweight Kubrat Pulev (20-0, 11 KO’s) stayed unbeaten with a 3rd round stoppage win over late replacement opponent journeyman Ivica Perkovic (20-24, 15 KO’s) in hitting him at will with jabs until the overweight Perkovic quit after the 3rd round. Perkovic suffered a bloody nose in the 3rd round from a hard jab from Pulev, and looked ready to quit at one point after getting hit hard with a body shot.

Pulev showed off his powerful jab, but not much more than that. In looking at this fight, it’s very difficult to picture Pulev being able to compete with the better heavyweights in the division and definitely not Wladimir Klitschko. Pulev is only capable of jabbing, and that’s not going to work against Wladimir and against some of the big hitters like Chris Arreola, Bermane Stiverne and Deontay Wilder.

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Other boxing action on the card:

Jack Culcay UD 12 Salim Larbi
Enrico Koelling UD 8 Mirzet Bajrektarevic
Liam Williams TKO 8 Yuri Pompilio
Soufiene Ouerghi MD 8 Dominik Britsch
Lewis Rees draw 8 Renald Garrido