Boxing News Boxing News
WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck was back in action tonight, retaining his title for the fourth time in front of a rabid local fan base at Messehalle in Erfurt, Germany.
Huck was facing a less than world class American import for the third straight contest, in this case Matt Godfrey who follows in the footsteps of little known Adam Richards and former heavyweight Brian Minto.
Godfrey came into the bout after having won a raft of regional American belts since 2005 but losing a WBC title eliminator two years ago to Rudolf Kraj in his prior highest level engagement.
The champion’s level of experience dwarfed that of Godfrey, having participated in six world title bouts and four contests for the European crown, only coming up short against Steve Cunningham in a battle for the IBF strap in 2007.
Once tonight’s main event began in Erfurt, the disparity of experience was immediately apparent as Godfrey seemed overwhelmed by the occasion as well as Huck.
The American sought to work the jab in the early rounds but rarely found the target as Huck moved forward and threw very little.
Godfrey tried to control the distance to his advantage but Huck waded in to drop the challenger at the end of the second frame.
After Godfrey hit the canvas again from what appeared to be a body shot that strayed low, it was just a matter of time before the curtain came down.
That moment came at 2:18 of the fifth after the champion produced two more knockdowns of Godfrey, who falls to 20-2 (10), snapping a four bout win streak.
Huck improves to 30-1 (23) but his run of overmatched opponents could be coming to an end as he will soon have to face his WBO mandatory challenger Denis Lebedev, a Russian southpaw who holds KO wins over Enzo Maccarinelli, Alexander Alexeev and Eliseo Castillo.
