Boxing In Europe: Huck, Monshipuor Victorious On The Continent

ByRicky Jones

European Cruiserweight Champion Marco Huck continued to crush the opposition as the heavy-handed 24 year old spent his Saturday night handling the challenge posed by Belgium’s undefeated Geoffrey Battelo at Edrgas Arena in Riesa, Germany.

Battelo took the fight to Huck and wanted a close quarters brawl but the champion patiently kept his distance, scoring from behind a high guard whenever the challenger went off balance or out of position from missed punches.

Gradually, Huck chipped away at the Belgian’s resolve until open warfare broke out in the third and Battelo was dropped hard by a Huck uppercut.

The big-hearted challenger beat the count but was in no condition to defend himself adequately from Huck’s followup assault and the action was called off at 2:57 of the round.

Huck, 24-1 (19), has now made two defenses of the European title and is once again in the hunt for a world title opportunity following his failed bid to knock off IBF titlist Steve Cunningham in December, 2007.

Battelo picks up his first career loss to fall to 18-1 (15).

There were good fights on the undercard as IBF Intercontinental Cruiserweight boss Enad Licina, 16-1 (10), had to pick himself off the floor to come back and stop big punching Colombian Jose Luis Herrera, 16-5 (16), in the eighth round.

In a battle of undefeated light middleweights, Alexander Abraham, 24-0-1 (16), retained his EBU-EE title for the first time by outpointing iron-chinned Serbian Nikola Stevanovic, 16-1-1 (6), after 12 rounds.

There also a good bill at the Palais De Sports in Pau, France as former WBA Super Bantamweight Champ Mahyar Monshipour, 30-3-2 (20), won his second in a row by stopping two-time former British title challenger Sean Hughes, 15-9-1 (1), of England in the eight round.

33 year old Monshipour took a two and a half year hiatus from the ring after losing his WBA crown to Somsak Sithchatchawal in 2006 but has now won both comeback bouts as he once again targets a world title opportunity, most likely in early 2010.

On the undercard, veteran super bantam Daniel Kodjo Sassou, 27-14-4 (7), of Togo outpointed Hungary’s Zsolt “The Rascal” Nagy, 12-6 (5), after ten rounds.

Congo born Toulouse light heavyweight Doudou N’Gumbu, 15-0 (8), snapped the nine bout win streak of Nice’s Jose Tavares, 11-2 (4), with a fourth round stoppage.