Huck vs. Povetkin: What are Marco’s intentions?

By Boxing News - 01/10/2012 - Comments

Image: Huck vs. Povetkin: What are Marco's intentions?By James Hardiman (Chaos J): On February 25th, we will be treated to a rather interesting match up in the Heavyweight division when Russian World Boxing Association (WBA) ‘paper’ champion Alexander Povetkin (23-0-16 KO’s) goes head to head with German based Bosniak WBO Cruiserweight king Marco Huck at the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart, Germany.

What’s interesting me is not just the tear up itself with two top fighters going toe to toe (and I expect it will be a toe to toe sort of affair) but more the position the winner will be in regarding where they will go from there. I will get into what I mean later but first I want to talk about the fight itself.

Starting with the ‘Champion’, Alexander Povetkin will be going into this fight on the back of a one-sided 8th round knockout victory over American fringe contender Cedric Boswell in which Boswell’s head resembled a ping pong ball going back and forth in the melee of power shots that lead to his eventual demise. Povetkin was allowed to move around the ring alot more then he was in the fight previous against far better opposition in former WBA Champion Ruslan Chageav for the newly formed and then vacant WBA ‘paper’ title. (For those still in the dark about this whole paper title thing, it was basically a way for the greedy WBA to make more money, bumping Wladamir Klitschko up to ‘Super Champion’ creating a vacant title to fight for, allowing them to earn more PPV and gate money by advertising it as a ‘title fight’). Povetkin won by a Unanimous points decision in what was a very difficult battle against one of the better fighters in the division. Chageav has this really awkward, almost unorthodox Peek-a-Boo stance that makes him hard to hit cleanly and he carries good power for counter punching but I was really impressed with the way Povetkin dealt with it, fighting inside close enough to kiss, wearing Chageav down with nice, solid body punches whenever he had the chance and as the fight got to the middle stages, started throwing some beautiful uppercuts that were getting through Chageav’s tight but declining defence, sending his head rocking up and down like he was nodding to music. You could see Chageav was feeling the damage the more the fight continued and Povetkin started to take control in the later rounds. Povetkin has good power but not explosive power, he doesn’t have an out and out knockout punch but carries enough venom to break opponents down and tire them out in the mid to late rounds leaving them vulnerable for a late knockout. He has decent hand speed, good footwork and a reasonably strong defence although exploited at times by Chageav who landed a couple of bombs on Povetkin, showed he has a solid chin to match them. He has all the hallmarks of a Teddy Atlas fighter.

Onto the challenger, Marco Huck will be making his debut at Heavyweight and as far as first time fights go, they don’t come much harder then this. It’s hard to judge how Huck will take to the Heavyweight division because we only know him at Cruiserweight and as is the case with alot of Cruiser’s making the step up, using Tomasz Adamek and Jean Marc Mormeck as examples, have failed to carry their power up with them. Going entirely on what he’s done at Cruiserweight, I’m impressed with him, his only loss coming against a good fighter in Steve Cunningham back in 2007 and has looked good in building himself back up to the top, beating some quality opponents along the way (Obviously having lady luck on his side in the controversial split decision win against Denis Lebedev in 2010). What I like about Huck is the speed and volume of his punches, mixing lot’s of left and right combo’s and occasionaly likes to throw a sharp, right uppercut into the pot for good measure. He’s reasonably quick, moves well, has very good hand speed and power and can mix it up a bit when he needs to. What concerns me is his vulnerability to the counter punch. When he throws and misses, I’ve noticed he leaves his body wide open and takes considerable punishment when opponents duck his punches and get in close. This is something that he simply cannot allow Povetkin, a fighter who loves to smash the granny out of the body, to do. I see this as being a good, tough fight for both men. I like Huck but I see this being too tall an order for him. I’m gonna go with Povetkin on this one, I think he will have too much experience and power for Huck to deal with. Late KO or UD victory for Povetkin.

What I really want to know is what Huck’s intentions are in making the move up to the big boys playground. Is he taking himself seriously as a contender? If so, why hasn’t he taken one or two tune up fights first? Im sure Vinny Maddalone or Kevin McBride aint too busy to humour Huck for a quick few quid. He’s jumping straight in with the 3rd best Heavyweight in the division. If he’s taking this seriously, not fighting an over-the-hill bum, if not just to get used to the power and height difference, could come back to haunt him quicker then last nights curry. Either he’s very confident in his abilities to take and make a punch at Heavyweight or in a similar way to greedy David Haye, is only interested in the money fights. I’m a big fan of Huck so I hope this is not the case but it seems he’s more interested in Heavyweight money then he is Heavyweight glory.

As for Povetkin, this is a pivotal fight in his career. If he should lose this, it would cast serious doubts over his ability to ever become a champion. He’s no spring chicken at 32 years old and he would have to fight his way back to the top against the likes of Arreola, Fury, Helenius or maybe even Solis could show his face again. I’m not saying Povetkin doesn’t have the skill to beat all of the fighters i’ve just named but it’s time consuming and there fights im sure he would rather do without. Should Povetkin win, it will put him in the unavoidable position of fighting the man he’s been evading for quite a while now and the man even Teddy Atlas knows Povetkin isn’t ready for, ‘Dr Steelhammer!!’

Any questions about this, Hit me up at thelastherodnb@hotmail.co.uk



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