Maccarinelli the pick - if he can get past three rounds

I remember the day that the Haye-Maccarinelli fight was announced, I was asked instantly for my opinion of the outcome. I decided to be cagey and opted not to name my pick. About four weeks ago, I was again asked my opinion for the programme - I never replied, I was that torn as to the outcome.
Well, the time has come to pick a winner and my choice, for what it's worth, is Enzo Maccarinelli, providing he can get past the first three rounds.

There are a few outcomes I can envisage. The first is that Haye, who has the edge in speed and possibly in outright punching power, could sweep Maccarinelli away - catching him early on and not letting him off the hook. Haye has the more proven class, he could win quick.

The other possibility is that, contrary to popular believe, Haye will try and box and not mix it with Maccarinelli. He has been using the phrase "quick knockover job" enough to make you think it could be a ploy.

But I have also been told by someone close to the Haye camp that his much publicised weight problems are not as bad as he makes out, but were exaggerated in order to encourage Frank Warren to make this match. I have no idea whether this is true of not, but, at the weigh-in he came in at 14st 2lb - 2lb under the limit - taking a swig of a drink on the way to the scales. Maccarinelli was a pound lighter.

Maccarinelli is just the more solid pick and I have extreme doubts over Haye's stamina, if not his heart, which saw him get off the floor to win his titles from Jean-Marc Mormeck. I can see Maccarinelli surviving Haye's early onslaught to get a grip in the bout and then starting to land to the body. By halfway Haye, who I thought was on the verge of defeat to both Mormeck and Giacobbe Fragomeni, could be starting to flag and I would pick Maccarinelli to win in about seven or eight rounds.

In other action this weekend, I would fancy Kevin Mitchell to beat Carl Johanneson in their British and Commonwealth super-featherweight title bout on the O2 undercard, probably in about round seven, while, in Cancun, Oleg Maskaev seems great value at 7-2 to successfully defend his WBC heavyweight title against Samuel Peter. The Nigerian, I believe, is very over-rated.