By Matthew Hurley: As hard-hitting WBC and WBA cruiserweight champion David Haye, 20-1 with 19 KOs readies himself for equally explosive punching WBO champion Enzo Maccarinelli, 28-1 with 21 KOs for their March 8th showdown, appropriately titled ‘Bombs Away’, the fight itself has taken on a life of its own.
The bout, which will take place at the O2 Arena in London and will be broadcast on Showtime in the US and Setanta Sports in the UK, has built itself into a highly anticipated showdown, with many British fans and boxing writers dubbing it the biggest all-British fight in nearly twenty years. Promoters expect upwards of twenty thousand people to attend the event.
For their part, both boxers have been properly hyping the fight, with Haye predicting a first round knockout and Maccarinelli claiming that his opponent is already running scared. The WBO champion, out of Wales, has been alluding to reports that an apparently paranoid Haye has been changing training venues and dodging journalists because he fears that he is being spied on.
“It sounds as if Haye is running scared,” he told Sky Sports. “But there will be no hiding place on Saturday night.”
Haye initially set up camp in the Republic of Cyprus and then moved to Miami, Florida. All suggestions of a sudden lack of confidence on his part are nothing more than pre-fight hype and the London-based fighter has been continuously dismissive of his opponent. When the fight was finally signed Haye remarked that, “The outcome is a foregone conclusion. It will be clinical (and) I will take him out in one round.”
All boasts aside Haye is wary of Enzo’s power and he has remarked that one of the reasons this fight has become such a talking point is because of not only the unquestioned power of both fighters but because of the questions surrounding their respective chins. One huge shot and it could indeed be over in the very first round, a notion that has fans salivating.
Maccarinelli, who had been clamoring for a fight with Haye for some time, also understands that the fighter he will step into the ring with on Saturday night is a formidable one.
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great champion and I’ve got a lot of respect for him, but there’s only one winner in the fight and that’s me.”
The intrigue in this bout remains whoever lands first will probably be the last man standing.