Christmas could come a week early for boxing fans on December 18th when Europe’s top 2 cruiserweights, Germany’s Marco Huck and Russian Denis Lebedev, clash for Huck’s WBO belt The bout has the potential for real fireworks and should be fought in front of an excited capacity crowd in the Max Schmeling Hall, Berlin.
The cruiserweight division is showing signs of life now after having been at somewhat of a low ebb. Since the exciting Tomasz Adamek left the division to pursue heavyweight glory, the division has been crying out for someone to take it by the scruff of the neck and emerge as the man to beat. With the idea of a cruiserweight super six tournament still being floated around, and rumored competitors Huck and Lebedev, meeting we could finally be set for an exciting period in one of boxings traditionally quieter weight classes.
An active champion, the 26 year old Huck, 30 (23) – 1 will be making the 5th defense of the title he picked up with an August 2009 points victory over Victor Emilio Ramirez. An aggressive fighter with a solid chin, “Kapt’n” has won his last 11 fights and has become adept at forcing his opponents into brawls. He likes to maneuver his man onto the ropes and once he gets them there they struggle to keep up with his trademark nonstop attacks. Although he is generally seen as one of the top 2 or 3 cruiserweights in the world [Editor’s Note: Huck and Lebedev are #2 and #3 in the ProBoxing-Fans.com cruiserweight rankings], Huck’s most recent opponents, Americans Adam Richards (KO 3), Brian Minto (TKO 9) and Matt Godfrey (TKO 5), have all been distinctly second tier.
Despite the emphatic outcome of the battle with the southpaw Godfrey, Huck fought the early rounds in a manner which could spell disaster against a fast starting opponent like Lebedev. He fought in wild spurts and at times lay back on the ropes behind his high held guard. Although he dropped Godfrey 3 times and eventually took him out in the 5th, Lebedev will have been encouraged by what he saw.
Huck vs. Lebedev Preview
The sole defeat on Huck’s record is a telling one. In 2007 he was stopped by Steve Cunningham in his first world title bid. Cunningham boxed superbly and forced Huck onto his back foot. It was the first time Huck hadn’t had his own way in a fight and he wasn’t nearly as effective. His increasingly desperate attempts to turn the fight back in his direction left gaps which Cunningham exploited beautifully, eventually forcing a 12th round stoppage.
The worry for Huck is that Lebedev has forged his entire career on pushing opponents onto the back foot. While Cunningham was able to stop Huck by the sheer accumulation of punches, Lebedev has shown on more than one occasion that he only needs to land one shot in order to turn a fight in his direction.
Lebedev, 21(16) – 0, enters the fight on the back of 8 successive stoppage victories. The 31 year old Russian enters the ring wearing the blue beret of the Russian paratroopers and fights as if he is going to war.
Although the names on his record may be unfamiliar to some, Lebedev has some good wins under his belt. His biggest scalp to date is that of former WBO and European champion Enzo Macarinelli. Although Macarinelli was in a poor run of form at the time of their meeting, Lebedev capitalized and produced a good performance to knock the Welshman out in the 3rd round. Arguably his best performance came in his latest bout. Bought in to face Alexander Alexeev in a final eliminator for Huck’s title, Lebedev dominated the 2005 amateur world champion and knocked him out in the second round.
Lebedev has genuine knockout power and is an exciting fighter to watch. It is a commonly used phrase in boxing but Lebedev really does “throw every punch with bad intentions”. He uses his southpaw jab as a range finder and doesn’t throw many combinations, preferring instead to rely on his powerful, damaging left hook to hurt his opponents. Although he likes to move forward, he doesn’t cut the ring off particularly well and it is possible to see him being outboxed by opponent with a good jab and the chin to survive Lebedev’s left hand.
Huck vs. Lebedev Prediction
Both are aggressive types and although each fighter carries power, the fight seems likely to boil down to a battle of wills. Will Huck be able to stand up to Lebedev’s mix of power and constant pressure and will Lebedev have enough boxing ability to implement a plan B should his initial assault fail to have the desired effect?
Although there are no givens in boxing, it is impossible to see this fight being anything other than an exciting brawl. Lebedev is a nightmare stylewise for Huck and although the German will have height and reach advantages, he doesn’t have the necessary jab and boxing skills to keep Lebedev off for the full 12 rounds. Huck has a solid chin and won’t be blown away but I see Lebedev hurting Huck on numerous occasions and finding Hucks wild attacks increasingly easy to withstand.
By the mid rounds Huck will be going backwards and the Russian should find the finish somewhere between rounds 8 and 10.
Winner: Lebedev KO 9.
