Marco Huck to Defend WBO Cruiserweight Title in December

Added on Nov 04, 2010 by Brian Blake in

Boxing

Coming off of a fifth round TKO win over American contender Matt Godfrey, Serbian born slugger Marco “Captain” Huck makes the fifth defense of his World Boxing Organization Cruiserweight strap against mandatory challenger Denis Lebedev of Chekhov, Russia. The event will be held at the Max Schmeling Halle in Huck’s adopted homeland of Germany on December 18.

“I look forward to fighting in Berlin again,” Huck said. “Lebedev is a tough challenger with a great record. We are both very powerful and have tremendous KO power so the fans can expect a big battle. I will of course defend my title and leave the ring as the winner.”

Huck made the professional leap back in 2004 and needed just one round to dispose of Pavel Cirok in Nuremberg, Germany. Two years later, in a rather odd affair, Huck faced Pietro Aurino and registered a technical knockout in the second round to claim the EBU (European Boxing Union) cruiserweight belt.

After one successful defense of the lightly regarded title, Huck claimed a majority decision over Vadim Tokarev in an IBF title elimination bout making him the mandatory challenger to then champion Steve Cunningham of Philadelphia.

As the bout his the championship rounds, Huck, sensing that a knockout was his only option for a win, came out with everything he had but was ultimately stopped with just over a minute left in the fight, thus giving him the first, and so far only loss, of his career.

Nearly two years later, Huck would get another crack at a world title when he took on Victor Emilio Ramirez in 2009 for the WBO Cruiserweight crown, which he would claim with a unanimous decision. To date he has successfully defended his title four times with the last three coming by way of knockout.

Now he looks ahead to take on the hard hitting Denis Lebedev.

“Lebedev is a very strong challenger,” Huck´s coach Ulli Wegner (pictured above) said. “After Ramirez and Afolabi, this is once again a huge test for Marco. But I am sure he will take care of business.”

Lebedev, despite only having 21 fights under his belt, has been a professional fighter for nine years. He campaigned as a light heavyweight from 2001-2004 before walking away from the ring for nearly four years.

Four fights into his comeback, Lebedev stepped up the level of opposition and rose to the occasion as he stopped Eliseo Castillo in the fifth round. The win set up a showdown with former world champion Enzo Maccarinelli whom he halted in the third round to pick up the WBO Inter-Continental title.

Two successful defenses of his regional title led him to a WBO title elimination bout in which he defeated Alexander Alexeev with a big second round knockout thus qualifying him as the mandatory challenger for Huck.

“I am sure that Marco Huck has never been so nervous ahead of a fight,” said Vlad Hrunov, Lebedev´s manager.

With the success that Lebedev has found in his return to the ring, it’s no surprise that his team is heading into the bout with nothing but the highest amount of confidence.