Boxing In Germany: Huck Retains WBO title Against Afolabi

Cruiserweight Marco Huck made a succsssful first defense of his WBO title with a 12 round unanimous decision against Ola Afolabi last night at the Arena in Ludwigsburg, Germany.

Afolabi puts his boxing skills to good use early on, picking off the oncoming Huck on the way inside and generally winning the first few rounds.

But as the aggressive Huck closed distance, the pair began to trade punches on the inside and defense went out the window for both combatants.

In the second half of the contest, Huck’s superior conditioning provided an edge as he outworked the challenger in a see-saw battle to the end of the 12th round.

When the cards were read, Huck kept his WBO crown on scores of 116-112 and 115-113 twice. The 25 year old from Bielefeld improves to 27-1 (20), while Afolabi drops to 14-2-3 (6).

On the undercard, heavyweight Alexander Povetkin, 17-0 (13), showed why he is one of the top men in the division with a third round KO of America’s Leo Nolan, 28-2 (10), and IBF Youth middleweight titlist Dominik Britsch, 17-0 (5), finished off Cleber Argente Alves, 7-3 (6), in the fifth frame.

Italian heavyweight Francesco Pianeta, 20-0-1 (12), widely outpointed Russian giant Evgeny Orlov, 10-6-1 (7), over eight.