World champion David Haye plans to complete some unfinished business as a cruiserweight before moving up to heavyweight.
He is after Enzo Maccarinelli's WBO title in a long overdue matchup which could be one of the best fights of the year.
In a bout being screened live by Showtime in the US, the two big punchers will meet at London's 02 Arena on March 8 with Haye also putting his WBC and WBA titles on the line after having impressively taken them from Jean-Marc Mormeck in Paris on Nov. 10.
PHOTO: AFP
"I want that title to be undisputed No. 1," Haye said on Monday after coming face to face with Maccarinelli at a news conference at the Arena. "I was looking ahead to heavyweights and had [former WBC heavyweight champion] Hasim Rahman lined up. But I said to [manager Adam Booth]: `Do what you can to make the Maccarinelli fight.'"
"We tried to get it on in the past but things didn't materialize. I have always wanted this fight. And I am the man to beat. If Enzo doesn't fight me, how else is he to become No. 1?" Haye said.
Haye said after his seventh-round stoppage of Mormeck that it was his final contest at cruiserweight. The 27-year-old Londoner has struggled to make the cruiserweight limit of 90kg and planned to make a bigger name for himself among the heavyweights.
Haye has one loss against 20 victories, while Maccarinelli has one in 28 with an unbeaten streak of 25 fights. With a combined 15 first-round knockouts, they are both big punchers and are likely to go toe-to-toe from the beginning.
"It will be a fans' fight," said Maccarinelli, who is trained in Wales by Enzo Calzaghe, father of WBC, WBA and WBO super-middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe. "If I were a fan, this is a fight I would want to see. We both fight the same way, head to head, trying to rip the other guy's head off."
"I don't have any animosity towards David Haye but, when it comes to the fight, he's going to bring everything he's got and I'm going to do the same," he said.
Maccarinelli held the lightly regarded WBU cruiserweight title and made six defenses before giving it up, and then took the WBO title from Marcello Dominguez with a ninth-round stoppage in July 2006. He knocked out Mark Hobson and Bobby Gunn in the opening round in his first two defenses and stopped Mohamed Azzaoui in four on Nov. 3.
A week later, Haye was floored by Mormeck but got up to stop the Frenchman in seven rounds.
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