Huck vs. Afolabi III Review: Afolabi falls short again as Huck moves on to Arslan rematch

huck54By Peter Wells (twitter @boxingbrains): When Marco Huck and Ola Afolabi fight, it can be hard to predict who will be the victor, but it doesn’t take a genius to know that both fighters will leave it all in the ring. And, as everyone predicted we were treated to a third all-or-nothing war between the pair of Cruiserweights who just have a knack of serving up a delightful brawl.

For the 2nd time in the trilogy, Marco Huck, the German fighter, was awarded the decision – the 2nd fight was scored a draw. Although each fight has been tight, so far I have agreed with each of the decisions – basically I don’t believe any of the fights were biased towards the home fighter, Huck, which is the common accusation when a boxer is awarded the win in a close fight in his homeland.

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Huck likely to face Arslan next

huck5643By Eric Thomas: WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (36-2-1, 25 KO’s) beat Ola Afolabi (19-3-4, 9 KO’s) last Saturday night by a 12 round majority decision in their third fight. Like their other two fights together, it was close from start to finish, but Huck ended up prevailing by the scores 117-111, 115-113, 114-114. With this win, Huck will likely face 42-year-old former WBA cruiserweight champion Firat Arslan (33-6-2, 21 KO’s) in a rematch for later this year. Huck beat Arslan by a controversial 12 round unanimous decision last November.

That fight was controversial because Arslan dominated Huck and out-landed him and out-worked him. Arslan forced Huck to fight on the inside where Huck is much less skilled and he gave him a real beating.

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Marco Huck-Ola Afolabi I & II recap, plus keys to victory and prediction for Huck-Afolabi III

20130605_114605By Peter Wells (twitter @boxingbrains): After two wars in 2009 and 2012 respectively these two fighters, Marco Huck and Ola Afolabi still insist they have a score to settle. The two warriors have earned one another’s respect to the degree that they are both once again happy to put their respective careers on hold to enter the ring and trade bombs yet again. In the first encounter Huck was given the fight on a close unanimous decision, while the second contest saw two of the three judges scoring all level, pitting the fight as a draw and ultimately treating the fans to another great Cruiserweight affair.

The Cruiserweight division has become the new heavyweights. The slightly smaller fighters have been delighting fans with wars aplenty as the new breed of heavyweights fail to provide the excitement that was always associated with the pinnacle weight class in boxing.

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Ola Afolabi talks about trilogy-making world title challenge against Marco Huck

Huck, AfolabiBy Ian Aldous: Ola Afolabi (19-2-4) will challenge Marco Huck (35-2-1) for a third time on Saturday June 8th with the WBO world cruiserweight belt up for grabs. The first two fights saw bouts that were very difficult to score, the second so close that it was in fact a majority draw.

Not only was it close, it was a contender for fight of the year in 2012. Last week Ola and K2 Promotions managing director, Tom Loeffler, took some time to talk with me about the upcoming fight.

It’s not often that a fighter prepares for a bout having already spent 72 minutes in the ring with that particular opponent.

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Huck vs. Afolabi 3 this Saturday, June 8th in Berlin, Germany

Ola Afolabi (England), Marco Huck (GER)(Photo Wende) By Eric Thomas: WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck and Ola Afolabi (19-2-4, 9 KO’s) will be facing off this Saturday night, June 8th in a rubber match at the Max Schmeling Halle, in Berlin, Germany.

Huck and Afolabi have fought in 2009 and 2012 with Huck winning the first fight and then the second ending in a 12 round draw. Afolabi appeared to win the second fight, but fight was held in Germany and Huck was he home fighter. Not much more to say than that.

Saturday’s fight will also be in Germany, so Afolabi is going to have to either plan knocking Huck out or winning every round to ensure he can get a close decision. It’s unfortunate that he’ll have to do something really spectacular to win but that’s probably the extent of it.

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Marco Huck vs. Ola Afolabi on May 11th in Hannover, Germany

huck43By Allan Fox: WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (35-2-1, 25 KO’s) will be facing Ola Afolabi (19-2-4, 9 KO’s) on May 11th at the Tui Arena, in Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany. This will be the third time these two fighters have fought. Huck, 28, beat the 33-year-old Afolabi by a 12 round unanimous decision four years ago in December 2009, but then the two fought to a controversial 12 round draw last year in May in a fight where Huck took a lot of punishment appeared to lose the fight.

It shows you how well Afolabi performed in that fight because to get a draw in Germany sometimes means you fought well to win by at least four rounds. I had Afolabi winning by an 8 rounds to 4 score after he swept the first six rounds – or at least he should have swept the first six rounds because he controlled the action.

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WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck to face Ola Afolabi on May 25th

huck56343By Thomas Cowan: WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck will be defending his title against interim champion Ola Afolabi on May 25th in Germany. These two have fought eachother twice before, with Huck winning comfortably in 2009 but last year they fought to a thrilling controversial draw. Afolabi was very unlucky to only come away with a draw and many felt he would have got the decision in a neutral country.

Don King won the purse bid to promote the fight and I’m not sure Afolabi will be too happy about the conditions that King has proposed. King has proposed an 80/20 split of the purse in Huck’s favour, which I think, is very harsh considering how close the last fight was. If I was Afolabi I’d be looking for at least 25% of the purse, if not 30%. This may not seem like a huge difference but the purse bid was $1.5 million so Afolabi will be earning $300,000. If he could get 30%, he would make $450,000.

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Huck-Arslan winner must face Afolabi

Image: Huck-Arslan winner must face AfolabiBy Jason Kim: The November 3rd winner of the title fight between WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (34-2-1, 25 KO’s) and Firat Arslan (32-5-2, 21 KO’s) got some bad news on Friday with the WBO order for the winner of the fight to face WBO interim cruiserweight champion Ola Ofolabi (19-2-4, 9 KO’s) within 180 days.

Huck, 27, probably doesn’t like that idea at all because he struggled to a gift 12 round draw against Afolabi last May in a fight where Huck deserved to lost by at least two rounds. He looked really poor in that fight but it took place in Germany where he’s almost impossible to beat.

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Afolabi vs. Mormeck on November 23rd in France

Image: Afolabi vs. Mormeck on November 23rd in FranceBy Jason Kim: WBO interim cruiserweight champion Ola Afolabi (19-2-4, 9 KO’s) will be fighting 40-year-old former WBA/WBC cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck (36-5, 22 KO’s) on November 23rd, in Paris, France. Afolabi, 32, is coming off a controversial 12 round draw against WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck last May in a fight that many boxing fans felt should have gone Afolabi’s way.

Mormeck is coming off of a 4th round TKO loss to IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitshko from last March in Germany. Mormeck, 5’11”, simply didn’t have the height, reach or weight to compete against the much bigger and stronger Wladimir. But now that Mormeck has gotten a payday fight against Wladimir and unfortunately lost badly, he can do the smart thing by moving down to cruiserweight, at least for this fight, and seeing how can do against a very good Afolabi.

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Huck-Afolabi ends in draw; Huck retains WBO title

Image: Huck-Afolabi ends in draw; Huck retains WBO title(Photo: Wende) By Sean McDaniel: WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck’s recent back luck continued with him struggling to a 12 round majority draw against World Boxing Organization interim cruiserweight champion Ola Afolabi (19-2-4, 9 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Messehale, in Erfurt, Germany. The final judges’ scores were 114-114, 115-113 Huck and 114-114.

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