December 5, Ludwigsburg, Germany
WBO cruiser champ Marco Huck outscored interim ruler Ola Afolabi on a close decision after twelve hardfought, even, difficult to scor rounds of boxing. It was scored 115/113, 115/113 and 116/112. Most ringsiders felt Huck had nicked it and the crowd at the Ludwigsburg Arena were firmly behind their man. Huck fought in spurts but was seldom scoring effectively while Afolabi, the better boxer, outhustled Huck for long spells but was also too lethargic and should have worked harder. There were no knockdowns but Huck was hurt in the fifth but came back well and won the sixth clearly.
In the 10/round non/title co/feature Russian heavz Alexander Povetkin knocked out American Leo Nolan in the third. Povetkin, now trained by Teddy Atlas looked rusty to begin with but found the target and gave Nolan a solid beating. Next for Povetkin is not the IBF interim title but to have more tuneups while waiting for Wladimir Klitschko.
Big heavy Francesco Pianeta outscored Russian giant Evgenz Orlov over eight.
IBF middle Youth champ Dominik Britsch stopped Brazilian Cleber Argente Alves, who have most of his fighting experience in thai/boxing and it showed. Britsch outclassed his man all the way.
Bulgarian heavzy Kubrat Pulev outscored American Zach Page over six but had to work hard to do so.
Super Six News> Arthur Abraham vs Andre Dirrell have been put back to March 6 mainly due to trouble with site and TV date.
Carl Froch=s defence of the WBC title against Mikkel Kessler will now go ahead April 17.
It=s rumored but not confirmed that Jermain Taylor will leave the tournament with Sakio Bika and Allan Green fighting an eliminator for the spot in the tournament.
05.12 Huck beat Afolabi
