By Jim Dower: In what could be the best match-up in boxing in 2010, WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (30-1, 23 KO’s) defends his title against #1 ranked World Boxing Organization contender southpaw Denis Lebedev (21-0, 16 KO’s) on December 18th at the Max Schmeling Halle, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, Germany. This is going to be a great fight and it’s odd that it’s not being talked about much among fans, because it promises to have fireworks from start to finish. Both Huck and Lebedev are huge punchers that never take a backwards step.

Huck, 26, is the younger fighter and has showed steady improvement since being taken out in the 12th round by Steve Cunningham in 2007. Huck is more poised with his attacks and shows a lot better technique compared to the way he fought earlier in his career. He’s beaten a number of top fighters in the past few years since the Cunningham loss, wins against guys like Ola Afolabi, Victor Emilio Ramirez, Matt Godfrey, Brian Minto, Adam Richards, Jean Marc Monrose and Geoffrey Battelo.

Lebedev has also picked up some impressive wins recently, beating Enzo Maccarinelli, Ali Ismailov and Alexander Alexeev. The win over Alexeev, a 2nd round stoppage, was especially important because it was in July of this year in the WBO cruiserweight title eliminator match. In what was supposed to be a competitive fight, Lebedev came out firing hard left hands and right hooks to the head of Alexeev and was able to break his nose early in the 1st round and stagger him. In the 2nd round, Lebedev put Alexeev down with a short left hand to the head. Alexeev tried to make it back to his feet immediately but fell again and again as he tired to make it back to his feet. Lebedev’s win over Maccarinelli was a total destruction with Lebedev beating up Enzo and taking him out in the 3rd round of a one-sided fight. Maccarinelli never stood a chance in the fight.

Huck may have problems against Lebedev because of his southpaw stance and his powerful straight left hands. Lebedev is really hard to beat because he delivers his left hands with such quickness and power. It’s like watching a smaller version of South African heavyweight Corrie Sanders. If Lebedev is able to land his left hands with any regularity, it’s going to be tough for Huck to stand up to those kinds of shots for long. Lebedev could wind up being too powerful for Huck.