Maccarinelli should blast Gunn by Ian McNeilly Feb 9th 2007

BBN was again first with the news when we added Enzo Maccarinelli v Bobby Gunn for the WBO cruiserweight title to our fight schedules on Wednesday. It wasn't a pleasant task for our Statto. The British boxing public was initially tempted by a match between the heavy-handed WBO champion and WBC number one, David Haye. The buzz surrounding this fight was palpable. In a typical scenario that is contributing to destroying this sport, the management teams failed to ensure their men made it to the ring. Next up as the rumoured opponent was Italian Vincenzo Cantatore. A let down after hearing Haye mentioned, perhaps, but a very acceptable name all the same as a former European champion and two-time world title (WBC and WBO) challenger. Never mind the rumours, feel the confirmation. Robert 'Machine' Gunn. It's been said that record site Boxrec is brilliant but does have holes. There must be some anomalies regarding his record on Boxrec as, according to them, he must have made his professional debut when he was only fifteen years old. They say his birthday is Christmas Day - it's a certainty that a shot at a so called legitimate 'world' title is the biggest present Gunn has ever been given. I sincerely hope they are fundamentally wrong about his record - but I doubt it. Boxrec says he notched up an 11-2 record between 1989 and 1993, mainly via quick knockouts. According to the records site, Gunn weighed 155 lbs when he lost to one James Rivas in 1992 - a middleweight who went on to a compile a 7-12-1 ledger. Gunn then had a little break from the sport. 11 years and 9 months. He returned, as he departed, with two first round knockout victories (though this time as a cruiserweight) before winning the vacant WBE cruiserweight title (don't ask me) with a fifth-round stoppage of Jeff Holcomb. The only fight I've seen of Gunn's is a rather disturbing though comic up and downer against Shelby Gross from March 2006. Gunn, weighing in 19 lbs under the current cruiser limit, tees off on Gross and looks quite heavy handed, knocking Gross down twice. The referee, Fred Boges, is appalling throughout and issues counts so long you could make a cuppa during them. Gunn comes out expecting to batter Gross but is caught by a left and collapses to the canvas. He gets up, is knocked down again, gets up and is blitzed again right before the bell. He stumbles into his own corner post, falls all over the place and the ref calls a halt. Gross thought he had won the vacant IBA title but he failed the post-fight drugs test as he had marajuana in his system. The fight can be seen - and let me tell you, it's worth seeing, at www.fightbeat.com/player2.php?FILENAME=6_gross.swf Gunn won the still vacant IBA title in his next and most recent fight in September last year by stopping 41-year-old Shannon Landberg in the seventh round. He weighed almost a stone under the 200 lbs cruiser limit. Gunn seems as if he can bang and as I've only seen him once, it might be unfair to criticise. But I doubt it. The fact this man has made it into the top 15 of the WBO helps destroy their credibility (not that any of them are worth a candle, really). He is not in the IBO's top 100. Boxrec has him at 167th.

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