German light heavyweight Juergen Braehmer will face former cruiserweight beltholder Enzo Maccarinelli on April 5 before his partisan fans in Rostock, Germany, promoter Kalle Sauerland of Sauerland events announced on Tuesday. 

A southpaw who once reigned as WBO beltholder, Braehmer (42-2, 31 knockouts) has won 11 consecutive fights, six of them by knockout, since falling by Hugo Hernan Garay in Nov. 2008.

Braehmer was last in the ring in December, when he floored Marcus Oliveira in the 10th round of a unanimous decision for his current belt, the WBA's "World" title [Note: THE RING recognizes only one champion per sanctioning body per division, which in this case is WBA “Super World” light heavyweight titleholder Beibut Shumenov].

Maccarinelli (38-6, 30 knockouts), of Wales, has scored three consecutive knockout victories since being stopped in the second round by Ovill McKenzie in Nov. 2012.

The 6-foot-4 Maccarinelli will bring a signfiicant height advantage in April, as Braehmer stands at just below 6 feet.

"Size doesn’t matter as the title will stay in Germany," said Braehmer, 35. "Maccarinelli is a quality operator and a former world champion — a tough task to handle inside the ring. Still, I believe that I know what it takes to beat him."

Maccarinelli's winning streak includes an 11th-round knockout of McKenzie last August, and a seventh-round stoppage of Courtney Fry in December.

"I am from Wales, but have Italian roots. In terms of football, you can compare this to Germany versus Italy – and we all know that Italy was always successful against Germany when it came to the point," said Maccarinelli. "Come April 5, I will only be the second prizefighter after Bob Fitzsimmons to have won a world title, come down to light heavyweight, and win a second world championship."

Still, Maccarinelli, 33, has been stopped in all of his losses, including those as a cruiserweight to David Haye, Ola Afolabi,  Denis Lebedev and Alexander Frenkel.

Maccarinelli was, nevertheless, the WBO cruserweight titleholder following a first-round stoppage of Marcos Hobson in October 2006, and made three successful defenses.

"I might fear a British invasion to Rostock on April 5," said Sauerland, who promotes Braehmer. "At the end of the day, it will be still Juergen Braehmer to be the one standing tall and still the WBA light heavyweight champion. It will not only be a very entertaining bout, but also be fought on a world class level."
 

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