Once again the Banks fight proved to be a non-starter (Banks opted to make an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to win the IBF cruiserweight title against Tomasz Adamek) and instead Maccarinelli's next fight was against the American-based Londoner Ola Afolabi for the "interim" WBO title. The fight took place on 14 March at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, on the undercard of the Amir Khan vs Marco Antonio Barrera bout. Maccarinelli was favoured by most observers to win, however things did not go as expected as Maccarinelli struggled in the early rounds and was staggered in the 3rd round by a short chopping right hand from the slick Afolabi. Despite managing to recover and win the majority of the next few rounds he was knocked out by Afolabi in round 9 when a huge overhand right put him on the canvas and forced the referee to call off the fight.