Boxing: Maccarinelli Up for American Test

The WBO world cruiserweight champion, Enzo Maccarinelli, is set for the biggest test of his professional career when he tops the bill at the Cardiff International Arena on July 21. He is set to face either the IBF champion Steve Cunningham in a title unification match or the former WBC champion Wayne Braithwaite.

Maccarinelli, 26, scored a first-round victory in his second defence of his title against Canada's Bobby Gunn in April but can reasonably expect a harsher examination of his claim to be the world's best in the 14st 4lb division against either of his potential American opponents.

"I believe I can beat anyone out there," the 6ft 4in Welshman said yesterday. "With my punching power and speed I deserve to be mentioned alongside any of the top men. Both Cunningham and Braithwaite are decent fighters but I can beat them both.

"It was disappointing last year that a fight against David Haye [the European champion] didn't come off because that would have been a massive fight for the fans. But he struggled to make the weight and I don't think David really wanted it. Now I have to get on with fights against the big names. Perhaps after I have cleaned up the cruiserweights a fight against Haye might still happen in a few years when we are heavyweights."

Frank Warren, the promoter, has announced two world title contests on the Cardiff bill, which comes seven days after his promotion at the O2 Arena in Greenwich when Dagenham's Nicky Cook fights Steve Luevano of the US for the vacant featherweight title and the undefeated Amir Khan has his first 12-round title fight against Glasgow's Willie Limond for the vacant Commonwealth lightweight championship. Gavin Rees provides support for the Maccarinelli title defence when he takes on France's WBA light-welterweight champion, Souleymane M'baye, and Edinburgh's Alex Arthur gets his long awaited world title chance when he fights the Georgian Koba Gogoladze for the vacant WBO super-featherweight title.