Huck defeats Rossi, now wants the Klitschkos

By Dan Ambrose: In yet another mismatch involving WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (34-1, 25 KO’s) picking from the very bottom of the World Boxing Organization rankings to defend his title against instead of going after his number #1 contender, Huck stopped a completely out-gunned Rogelio Omar Rossi (17-3-1, 11 KO’s) in the 6th round on Saturday night at the Arena Ludwigsburg, Baden-Wurrtenberg, Germany.

After the fight, the 26-year-old Huck said he wants to move up to the heavyweight division and immediately challenge for a title against one of the Klitschko brothers. Huck and Vitali Klitschko, the WBC heavyweight champion, have been trading barbs the past month, and that appears who Huck would likely face if he does move up to the heavyweight division. However, Huck would have to get ranked first and actually prove himself worthy of a title fight says Bernd Boente, the manager for the Klitschkos. He’s not going to just give Huck a payday fight by letting him go to the head of the line to fight one of the Klitschkos. But more importantly, it would be nearly impossible to sell the fight other than in Germany because Huck needs to fight at heavyweight and at least beat a handful of names the way that former cruiserweight champion David Haye did in the past. Haye focused on knocking off old lions after moving up in weight, fighting the 38-year-old John Ruiz, 36-year-old Nikolay Valuevv, 38-year-old Monte Barrett and 39-year-old Audley Harrison before getting his shot against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and easily getting beaten by the big Ukrainian.

Boente told supersport.com “Marco Huck would have to first prove himself and get in line in the rankings if he comes up to heavyweight. Whether Huck has enough boxing skills at this class, however, I do not know.”

Huck is good enough to beat the lower fringe contenders in the heavyweight division, but he’d get beaten if he takes on guys like Robert Helenius and Alexander Povetkin. He can probably beat fighters like Alexander Dimitrenko and Ruslan Chagaev, but it wouldn’t be easy. Those guys can fight a little bit and Huck is only 6’1 1’2″, and wouldn’t have a lot of size.

The Klitschkos wold destroy Huck on their worst day. This is a fight that really would be sold mainly to the Germans who know who Huck is. He’s not really done much at cruiserweight. Huck lost to Steve Cunningham, and won a controversial decision against Denis Lebedev in a fight that Huck probably should have lost by at least six rounds. Huck hasn’t been quick to fight a rematch with either Cunningham or Lebedev, preferring to take on the mostly soft opposition that’s been put in with him after he captured the WBO cruiserweight title.

Huck had an easy time beating the #15 ranked Rossie last night, knocking him down four times in the fight and landing a number of fouls along with it. Perhaps the most telling punch of the night came after the 4th round had ended when Huck landed a left to the head well after the bell had sounded and the punch floored Rossi. It took a long time for Rossi to get back to his feet and when he finally was able to walk again, he staggered back to his corner. Huck in turn lost two points due to the late hit.

The referee missed seeing Huck shove Rossi to the canvas at the end of the 3rd, and instead of ruling it as such, the referee counted it as a knockdown. There was a lot of holding and hitting from Huck in the 2nd and 3rd rounds where Huck was hooking his left around the back of Rossi’s head and nailing him with repeated right hands. It was hard to miss and shocking that the referee just allowed it to happen. In the 5th, Huck spun the beaten Rossi completely around and nailed him when to the back of the head when Rossi’s back was turned. A very dirty move that wasn’t penalized. Later in the round, Huck dropped Rossi with a left to the head that put Rossi down on one knee.

In the 6th round, Huck landed three straight clubbing right hands and finished with a long right that sent Rossi to the canvas on his back. The fight was stopped immediately as Rossi was badly hurt.

The German fans loved the fight despite it being such a one-sided mismatch. One wonders what anyone could enjoy about seeing such mismatch, especially against a fighter ranked at the bottom of the top 15. The crowd should be pressuring Huck to face his number 1 challenger Lebedev again instead of seeing him face consecutive bottom #15 ranked opponents like this. In his last fight, Huck faced the #15 ranked Hugo Hernan Garay and stopped him in the 10th.

I think it would be a bad idea to have Huck fight either of the Klitschkos. Huck is too primitive and probably is the 3rd best fighter in the cruiserweight division behind Cunningham and Lebedev at this point.

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