By Matt Stein: WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (30-1, 23 KO’s) will be making his 5th defense of his World Boxing Organization title on December 18th against what could be his toughest foe yet in 31-year-old unbeaten knockout artist Denis Lebedev (21-0, 16 KO’s) in a 12 round bout at the Max Schmeling Halle, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, Germany. Huck, 25, has looked nearly invincible in the past 11 fight since being stopped in the 12th round by Steve Cunningham in December 2007.

Huck has improved a lot since then and is a much better boxer and a bigger puncher as well. However, Huck hasn’t faced anyone like the southpaw Lebedev and he could be in for a rude awakening in front of a large German crowd in Berlin on December 18th. Lebedev is hard to fight because of his big left hand power and his quick attacks. In his last fight in July, Lebedev easily destroyed former Russian 2004 Olympian and current cruiserweight contender Alexander Alexeev in two rounds.

Lebedev broke Alexeev’s nose in the 1st round and then took him out with a crunching left to the head in the 2nd. Alexeev was trying all he could to avoid getting hit by Lebedev’s left hands, but it was no use, because he still ended up getting hammered them no matter what he did. The problem with getting hit by Lebedev is that he hits so hard and the effects are usually disastrous for his opponents. Lebedev destroyed Enzo Maccarinelli in a 3rd round TKO last year. Maccarinelli didn’t know what he was getting himself into when he signed on for a fight against the still largely unknown Lebedev. In hindsight, Maccarinelli might have wished he hadn’t chose to fight someone as powerful as Lebedev.

Huck has looked good in beating former Alexeev conqueror Victor Emilio Ramirez by a 12 round decision in August 2009, Ola Afolabi by a 12 round decision in December 2009, and then Adam Richards, Brian Minto and Matt Godfrey in 2010. However, none of those fighters have the firepower and the lighting fast attack that Lebedev possesses. Huck barely beat Ramirez, and I rate Lebedev a lot higher than Ramirez. For Huck to win this fight, he’s going to have to run for the entire 12 rounds because his power doesn’t match-up with the left hand power from Lebedev, and it’s difficult to last 12 rounds against a puncher like the Russian because he punches so incredibly hard and it’s coming from a different direction that most orthodox right handers aren’t used to.