ENZO Maccarinelli has targeted a rise up the ratings after his latest knockout victory.

Maccarinelli recorded his second consecutive knockout win last Friday after quickly disposing of Hungarian Zoltan Czekus at Liverpool's Echo Arena.

Swansea's former WBO cruiserweight champion put the Hungarian on the canvas twice thanks to some explosive body shots before the contest was ended.

After a 90-second knockout of Krisztian Jaksi last December, Maccarinelli has started his comeback trail with first-round victories.

And despite his opponents not being anyway near Maccarinelli's calibre, the 29-year-old's ranking has started to improve.

Maccarinelli has moved up five places to 39th in the BoxRec ratings and to 23rd by the WBC, though the WBO don't rate their former champion in the top 15.

His place in the BoxRec list seems a little ridiculous since American Josh Harris lies 11 places higher despite a record of five wins, three defeats and a draw.

Nevertheless, Maccarinelli is happy he is making progress.

"It was a good showing for me and I worked my jab well against Czekus," said Maccarinelli. "I landed some big shots and it showed my power hasn't gone anywhere.

"Czekus told me afterwards that he'd trained a lot with some top cruiserweights in Germany, but he'd never been hit like that. He said it felt as if a hammer had smashed his ribs.

"But I'm not getting carried away. I know Czekus was an improvement on Jaksi but he's still nowhere near my quality.

"It has improved my ranking, which is something I am really keen to work on."

The groundwork for Maccarinelli's next fight takes place on Tuesday when he meets up with promoter Frank Warren.

Maccarinelli is eager to take on a fighter with more calibre — and higher up the ladder — but admits he will leave the decision up to the Sports Network chief.

"If it was up to me I'd take on anyone who wanted to fight me," said Maccarinelli. "I've never turned down a fight in my career.

"But I understand that Frank knows best in these situations, and ultimately the call will be his."

chris.barney@swwmedia.co.uk