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Local superstars, Marco “Kapt’n” Huck (35-2-1) and Canada based Romanian Lucian Bute (31-1-0), fought in what were, on paper, two major showcase fights last night.
But, two strong-hearted warriors going by the names of Firat Arslan (32-6-0) and Denis Grachev (12-1-1), despite losing in close battles, prevented the favorites from achieving that goal of impressing their local audiences.
In the first fight of the night, from the Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, hard-hitting contender Firat Arslan worked hard, but lost a close decision to WBO Cruiserweight sensation Marco Huck.
This contest was by far the more controversial of the two as ex-WBA champion Arslan was clearly the aggressor most of the fight while Huck did not look at his best, backing up and flinging some shots in return when it was possible.
Arslan, on the other hand, at a stunning age of 42 managed to look primed and ready. More than 15 years older than Huck, he managed to beat him to the punch swinging out unrelenting flurries of heavy uppercuts, flicking Huck’s head back on the inside.
SaddoBoxing’s Corey Quincy scored the contest 116-112 in favor of the challenger Arslan, but quite disappointingly, the judge’s scorecards differed at 115-113, 115-113 and a near mind-boggling 117-111 for Huck.
You have a respectable argument that Huck’s counter punches gave him a close victory but a scorecard of 117-111 is simply astonishing. It wasn’t as bad as what many critically referred to as a “robbery”, but rather another war and controversial verdict landing on Huck’s resume
A rematch should be considered for this fight.
The other major contest of the evening came from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and it also turned heads as Romanian-Canadian boxing star Lucian Bute outfought hard-hitting undefeated contender Denis Grachev of Russia.
That fight focused on the comeback of Bute, who was facing Grachev in preparation for a Carl Froch rematch. But the fighter who really impressed fans was Grachev, who used his world class infighting and excellent power to pressure Bute throughout the contest, despite the fact that Bute was throwing monstrous shots back.
Grachev’s chin proved to be absolute granite last night. He walked through Bute’s head-splitting uppercuts and large left hooks to walk down the former IBF Champion with relenting pressure.
No jabbing, no range-finding, just plodding forward and eating shots to get his own off. It was phenomenal to watch Grachev bust his way through to Bute without hitting the canvas once.
I had the contest 116-112 for Bute. He was more precise and sharper with his shots and it impressed me more, although Grachev’s aggression may be capable of drawing the more casual fans’ attention but this is professional boxing and it is all about what you land, not how much you throw.
Bute looked decent but his confidence looks a bit depleted. He needs to work on some technical issues before his March rematch with Carl “The Cobra” Froch. Grachev proved that despite possessing limited boxing skills, he is a tough opponent and would be entertaining to watch against some top opponents in time.
Undercard results for Bute vs. Grachev saw contenders Allan Green, Mikael Zewski and Rodrigo Guerrero collect hard fought stoppage wins.
Corey Quincy is a freelance boxing journalist writing for various media outlets including Saddoboxing.com and his blog Blboxing.com . Like his Facebook at www.facebook.com/boxinglegends and follow him on twitter at Quincyboxingfan.
