Marco Huck (38-2-1, 26 KOs) returns to the ring for the first time in twelve months tonight at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
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Possibly one of the most underrated world champions ever
The reigning WBO cruiserweight champion defends his title against Poland’s Krzysztof Glowacki (24-0, 15 KOs) as part of Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions series in what will be the first time either man has fought in America. The fight will be shown on Spike TV in the US and will act as chief support to Antonio Tarver’s heavyweight bout with veteran Steve Cunningham.
Victory for the 30 year old Serbian-born German will see Huck overtake retired British cruiserweight Johnny Nelson’s record of 13 successful defences of the WBO title.
This is Huck’s first fight since his split from his long-time promotional stable, Sauerland Event, a separation that has been chiefly responsible for Huck’s lengthy absence from the ring for the past twelve months.
Since then Huck has founded his own promotional company, Huck Sports Promotions, opting instead to represent himself and take greater control of his own career moving forward.
Negotiations and opportunity
For his part Glowacki, the No.1 ranked fighter with the WBO and mandatory challenger to Huck’s title, is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Albania’s Nuri Seferi in January of this year.
That fight was a designated eliminator for Huck’s WBO title, though the winner was scheduled to first face British fighter Tony Bellew in a final eliminator.
However, Bellew and his promotional stable, Matchroom Sport, chose to forgo the opportunity of a fight against Glowacki and instead opted to step aside and pursue a straight title shot, reportedly against the IBF cruiserweight champion, Yoan Pablo Hernandez, for later this year.
Should Huck win and win well on tonight, then his future prospects moving forward will appear undoubtedly bright.
Going to heavyweight
For some time now Huck has had his sights set on moving back up to heavyweight. He has fought at the 200 lbs-plus weight limit once before; in 2012 he dropped a unanimous decision to Alexander Povetkin in Stuttgart, Germany for the WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title.
When discussing his future in a Q&A interview with Ring Magazine earlier this week, Huck intimated his desire to remain at cruiserweight for a little while longer yet.
The German was quoted as saying in recent boxing news that he hopes to make a “few more defences….then move back to the heavyweight division and make history there by becoming the first German heavyweight champion since Max Schmelling.”
Hernandez
Remaining at cruiserweight is certainly an attractive option, particularly in Europe, given the depth of the division. Unification match-ups between Huck and WBC champion Grigory Drozd or IBF belt holder Yoan Pablo Hernandez would be huge on this side of the Atlantic and are fights the German may very well intend on pursuing.
Speculation regarding a fight between Huck and Hernandez is nothing new in Germany, yet until recently the fight was nothing more than a remote possibility. The pair shared not only a promoter but also a trainer.
With Huck now separated from Sauerland Event and with a new trainer in tow, American Don House, a fight between what many consider to be the two best cruiserweights in the world isn’t as far-fetched as it was nine months ago.
Yet negotiations could very well prove tricky considering there doesn’t seem to be much love lost between the 30 year-old and his former promotional stable.
USA options
Remaining in America under Al Haymon’s PBC banner doesn’t offer a wealth of opportunities for the Berliner at cruiserweight. The division is largely dormant in the US at present, though one option could well be Beibut Shumenov.
The Kazakh-born fighter is the newly crowned ‘interim’ WBA champion and someone Haymon may well be willing to match Huck with on one of his PBC shows should the German prove a hit with American audiences.
If and when Huck does decide to move up to heavyweight, then his prospects will look decidedly brighter on that side of the Atlantic. There are plenty of options for the Berliner in the USA at heavyweight.
Deontay Wilder, the WBC heavyweight champion, is someone who has been name checked on more than one occasion in the build-up to tonight, a bout both Huck and his new trainer would gladly welcome.
Klitschko
A meeting with Wladimir Klitschko is unquestionably the proverbial ‘golden ticket’ for any heavyweight. Klitschko vs Huck would certainly be a huge fight in Germany and, one suspects, likely one of the more financially attractive options available for Klitschko in Europe.
Though that fight has been discussed in the media in Germany in the past, a major stumbling block was always Huck’s association with Sauerland Event, who have an exclusivity contract with German television station Sat1.
Klitschko has a similar arrangement with rival terrestrial channel RTL. Having recently extended his contract with the network for an additional five fights, Huck’s separation from Sauerland was largely necessary if he was to stand any chance of securing a bout with the Ukranian heavyweight champion.
Bright future should he win
Now a free agent, and with no contractual obligations to any promotional stable, Huck, in theory, has no obvious restrictions in pursuing the biggest fights available to him.
A final but somewhat distant option that has been muted, though admittedly not by Huck himself, is a bout against former multiple world title holder Roy Jones Jr.
The 46 year-old has mentioned Huck’s name more than once in the media as a potential future opponent, though whilst Jones carries undoubted name recognition, his credibility as a current world level fighter at this late stage of his career has largely evaporated
The future could well be extremely rewarding for Huck should he defeat Krzysztof Glowacki tonight.
Should he capitalise on his enviable position of a man with numerous options and few hindrances, then his career will be well worth following over the next few years.
Admittedly though Glowacki cannot be overlooked, not if he hopes this to be the first step on a new path.
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