Maccarinelli vs Kucher results: Dmytro Kucher wins European title with first round TKO

Dmytro Kucher won the vacant European cruiserweight title today in London, going on the road to score an emphatic first round TKO win over Enzo Maccarinelli, who had come in to replace Ovill McKenzie in the fight.

Maccarinelli (41-8, 33 KO) jabbed early and targeted the body a bit, with Kucher (24-1-1, 18 KO) also jabbing and feeling things out in the early going. But Maccarinelli unleashed a right uppercut in close late in the round, missed, and Kucher fired right back with a left hook that caught Maccarinelli hard, shaking him up badly. Kucher followed up with a right hand and another left hook that put the Welshman on the canvas.

Maccarinelli struggled to his feet, and though he did get up, his trainer Gary Lockett was said by the BoxNation commentary team to be waving the white towel on the apron. Referee Giuseppe Quartarone took a close look at Maccarinelli and stopped the fight at 2:48.

Obviously, this is not the result that Maccarinelli, 35, was hoping for, but in all honesty you couldn’t have purposely mapped out a performance more truly "Enzo Maccarinelli" than this one. He went for a big shot, missed, and got drilled, and he just doesn’t have the punch resistance to take shots like that. His chin and defense have always been his fatal flaws, and that’s never changed.

Ukraine’s Kucher, 31, scores the most notable win of his career to date, and keeps himself in contention for something bigger, too. The four cruiserweight world titles are pretty well tied up for the rest of 2016, it would appear, but it’s not hard to imagine him in a world title fight next year if he keeps winning.