European cruiserweight champion Marco Huck retained his belt last night with a fifth round finishing of Ukrainian challenger Vitaliy Russell at Jako Arena in Bamberg.

Huck, 25-1 (20), proved too strong for the less experienced Rusal, 23-1 (16), who had come into the bout as the undefeated IBO Intercontinental titlist but the jump up to European level was too great.

Rusal had no answers for Huck's hard combinations and was down in the fifth before the bout was stopped at 2:58 of the round.

Huck has now won six straight following his failed bid to unseat IBF champion Steve Cunningham in December, 2007.

On the undercard, light middleweight Alexander Abraham, 25-0-1 (17), stopped Magomed Abdurakhmanov, 14-3 (7), with a body shot in the fourth in defense of the EBU-EE crown.

Cruiserweight Yoan Pablo Hernandez, 19-1 (11), outpointed Aaron Williams, 19-2-1 (13), after eight rounds.

Cruiserweight prospect “Awesome” Aaron Williams is in Las Vegas, sparring with unbeaten light heavyweight champion “Bad” Chad Dawson, in preparation for his potential career-changing fight May 9 against former Cuban amateur champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez at Jako-Arena in Bamberg, Bayern, Germany.

Nine-time amateur champion Williams, 19-1-1 (13), born in Cleveland and fighting out of Las Vegas, is trained by former light heavyweight champion Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, who is also getting Dawson ready for his May 9 rematch against Antonio Tarver. More...

By Per Ake Persson

Firat Arslan is sidelined with an injury but European cruiser champ Marco Huck will still defend the titleon May 9 in Bamberg and Sauerland Event will announce the challenger within a few days. More...

It was a good weekend on the Continent with most of the action taking place on Saturday night, and we kick off this report in Germany.

The Jahnsportforum in Neubrandenburg saw a European title fight at super middle between old rivals as Kitzingen slugger Karo Murat, 19-0 (12), forced veteran Italian southpaw Cristian Sanavia, 40-5-1 (12), to quit after eight rounds.

25 year old Murat first won the European title by defeating ex-WBC Champion Sanavia via close unanimous decision in April of last year and aside from reigning world champions Carl Froch, Lucian Bute, Mikkel Kessler and Karoly Balzsay, now stands as The Man in Europe.

On the undercard, former European Middleweight kingpin Sebastian "Hurrikan" Sylvester, 30-3 (15), returned from a failed bid to unseat WBA Champion Felix Sturm in November by capturing the vacant IBF International Middleweight title with a seventh round KO of Italian Champion Gaetano Nespro, 14-5 (2). More...

Two-time WBA heavyweight champion John “The Quietman” Ruiz, 43-8-1 (29), as well as his advisor/attorney Tony Cardinale and head trainer Manny Siaca, Sr., believe they faced sizable unfair disadvantages August 30 fighting Nikolai Valuev, 49-1 (34), for the WBA heavyweight title in Berlin.

Valuev recaptured the WBA belt by way of a 12-round decision clouded in controversy. Team Ruiz is demanding a full videotape of Valuev-Ruiz II to further review for evidence of alleged corrupt practices.

Points of contention include the following issues: More...

By Per Ake Persson

Russian giant Nikolai Valuev won a unanimous decision over John Ruiz in a rematch to win the vacant WBA heavyweight title last night at Max Schmeling Halle in Berlin, Germany.

It was scored 116-111, 116-113 and 114-113, all for Valuev, but it was however first announced as a split decision, which was due to a mix-up in the scoring slips used by the judges. More...

There was a good show at the Sparkassen Arena in Kiel last night with IBF Middleweight Champion Arthur Abraham putting in a dramatic finish to knockout big-hearted American visitor Elvin Ayala in the twelfth and final round to retain his title for the seventh time.

Ayala showed good boxing skills in the early going but began to absorb withering fire by the middle rounds when the champion began to close distance and fine range.

Abraham landed a picture perfect right hand in the fifth to canvas the challenger but could not improve upon his work to end the bout at that time. Ayala battled back but simply didn't have the power to keep Abraham off. More...