Huck Defeats Monrose, Looks Awful

By Boxing News - 09/21/2008 - Comments

huck342356.jpgBy Erik Schmidt: In one of his typically poor performances, cruiserweight Marco Huck (22-1, 17 KOs) was forced to rally to stop French boxer Jean Marc Monrose (24-2, 15 KOs) in the 12th round on Saturday night to win the EBU (European) cruiserweight title at the Seidensticker Halle, Bielefeld, in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Looking more like a lame tough man contest fighter, Huck, 23, opened up with wild storm of punches in the 12th round, catching the exhausted Monrose, 27, flat-footed and unready for the unexpected flurry of shots by Huck. The referee Terry O’Conner stepped in and halted the fight at 1:17 of the 12th round with Monrose still on his feet. He never went down, but he looked badly hurt and probably would have if Huck had continued pummeling him with stop for the remainder of the round.

It’s hard to blame Monrose for not being ready for Huck’s sudden surge of activity, because he had fought the vast majority of the fight at a snail’s pace, only rarely throwing combinations, and even then it was mainly in the last 20 seconds of the round. Huck did as he generally always does, cover up on the ropes and throwing a rare uppercut or right hand. Monrose, who recently won the EBU title with a 1st round TKO of Johny Jensen in May, had it incredibly easy for the most part. With Huck mainly covering up on the ropes and throwing few shots, he was like a big punching bag for Monrose and not much of a threat.

Monrose, ranked #5 in the WBA, #7 in the WBC, #13 in both the IBF and WBO, came out fast in the first round, attacking Huck hard and pinning him to the ropes where he threw a lot of combinations as Huck covered up like a big turtle. As is his custom, Huck waited until the end of the round before he finally threw any punches of his own.

Huck chose to stay on the ropes much of the time in the second round, although he would get off of them every once in awhile as if he’s been told about this from his trainers. Whoever, like a person hopelessly stuck in a bad habit, he would continue to retreat to the ropes again and again in the round, covering up like a sparring partner and taking shots. Again, I had him losing this round, as well as the first, by a wide margin.

Huck finally started showing some courage in the third round, throwing a lot of heavy shots at Monrose and nailing him with good right hands to the head. Only once or twice in the round did Huck retreat to the ropes. All in all, it was a good round and it showed how good Huck can be when he’s thinking with his head and fighting smart. When Huck was throwing power shots, the slower, weaker, more limited Monrose was no match for him in the center of the ring. However, when Huck would back up to the ropes where he was unable to use leverage on his shots, he would get worked over by the shorter-armed Monrose.

In rounds four and five, Monrose kept Huck pinned up against the ropes. Well, he didn’t actually keep him there, because it was Huck who kept backing up to the ropes and leaning against them, as if his legs weren’t strong enough to keep him on his own two feet for long. Monrose, of course, won both rounds as Huck was unable to get his punches off. The action was dull in the 5th, because Monrose missed often, and looked so painfully slow and limited. I couldn’t believe that he was ranked in the top 10, because he looked so awful. Huck resorted to pushing Monrose around in the 5th round, pushing him completely down on one occasion with a superb left hand push to the head.

Monrose dominated round six and seven, continuing to work over a ropes bound Huck with short punches on the inside. The action was slow, as Huck, like in most rounds, would refuse to throw any punches until the last 20 seconds of the round, at which time he would throw a flurry of shots trying to win the round. I suppose he was trained to do this, but I’m also pretty sure he was trained to fight hard for the other two and half minutes as well, but that parted doesn’t seem to be taking.

In the 8th round, Monrose began to suddenly look very tired, as if he had gassed out from throwing so many punches earlier in the right. I’m not sure why he would be tiring out, because he fought at a slow pace and wasn’t really throwing a massive amount of shots. Huck, seeing that Monrose wasn’t throwing, he started throwing a few more punches of his own. Not a lot, mind you, but a few more.

As if on his last legs, Monrose came back in rounds nine and ten, fighting hard and easily out-punching the turtle-like Huck, who like always, was resting against the ropes just covering up.

In the 11th and 12th round, Monrose had nothing left and just took a rain of shots from Huck. It wasn’t skillful punching from Huck, however, because he looked like someone from a bar room, who was just winning big round house shots. Against a good fighter, Huck would have been drilled and planted on the spot using his awful form. However, Monrose didn’t fit that bill, and even if he was equipped with enough ability to drop Huck, he was far too tired to do it. In the 12th round, Huck went after Monrose from the opening bell, hitting him nonstop with one prolonged flurry of shots, some of them landing to the back of Monrose’s head, hurting him badly. Finally, referee Terry O’Connor stepped in and halted the bout at 1:17 of the 12th as Monrose staggered around the ring.

A good victory for Huck, although as I said, neither looked like top 10 material from what I could see of them. Monrose looked mediocre, short, slow, poor reach, no power, terrible accuracy and average work rate. As for Huck, just a punching bag on the ropes, someone that covers up and leans on the ropes most of the time and then occasionally throws a flurry at the end of the round. For a fighter only 23, he fights more like someone 43. Just not a top ranked fighter from what I can see. He reminds me a little of middleweight champion Arthur Abraham, specifically how he’ll look in another 15 years when he’s in his 40s.