WBO Cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (34-2-1, 25) looks to make the 10th defense of his belt this coming weekend as he faces veteran Firat Arslan (32-5-2, 21) in what looks likely to be Huck's final bout as a Cruiserweight and possibly Arslan's last career bout.
The 42 year old challenger has been there, seen it and gotten the T-shirt in his his 15 year career that has seen him becoming a staple of the Cruiserweight division. He has literally been in with a who's who of the division, especially in the last 5 or 6 years, and he's also held his own with not only some of the best of his generation but also of the emerging fighters in the division.
Arslan would really make a name for himself between 2006 and 2008 as he scored successive victories over the likes of Grigory Drozd, Valery Brudov, Virgil Hill and the always dangerous Darnell Wilson as he claimed the WBA Cruiserweight title, a title he defended three times. Sadly however for Arslan his advanced age didn't help him hold the title for long as he suffered a 10th round TKO loss to Guillermo Jones and a year later an 11th round TKO loss to Steve Herelius in an interim title bout.
Following the losses to Jones and Herelius, some expected Arslan to bow out of the sport gracefully with a then solid record of 29-5-2 (18) however Arslan seemed to think there as still life in the old dog. On his return to the ring, just 9 after losing to Herelius, Arslan stopped Michal Bilak before gaining revenge over Lubos Suda who had beaten him back in 2003. The come back then saw Arslan defeating Orlando Antonio Farias before scoring an eye opening draw with the highly touted Alexander Alekseev.
In terms of his style Arslan is a very tough fighter, he's in your face and brings a lot of pressure whilst looking to work from behind his high guard. Despite being in his 40's he has a respectable work rate even if it's not particularly high as he attempted to do enough to either just nick rounds or grind down opponents. If you allow Arslan to dictate either the tempo or the distance of a fight he can spring an upset on anyone however at just 5'11" he is short for a Cruiserweight and can be kept at range by a decent boxer.
Whilst Arslan is certainly coming to the end of his career, the 27 year old Huck is still well with in his prime and the former kick boxer is unarguably one of the most fun to watch fighters in world boxing. Despite having only been a professional for 8 years Huck has been one of the key names in the Cruiserweight division for 6 of them (since claiming the European-Union title in 2006).
As a Cruiserweight Huck is seen as a crude, caveman style fighter who is hugely powerful, teak tough and whilst not the most skilled has the physicality to win bouts with his power and raw aggression. Despite this he's not unbeatable with Steve Cunningham holding a 12th round TKO victory over Huck, although that was way back in 2007, the one and only time that Huck has been beaten at Cruiserweight.
Following the loss to Cunningham, Huck has rebuilt his career well claiming the European title and then the WBO title as he's swathed through a number of very skilled fighters including Jean Marc Monrose,Victor Emilio Ramirez, Ola Afolabi (twice), Denis Lebedev and Hugo Hernan Garay. However there is a lot of debate about whether or not the victories over Lebedev and Afolabi were above board (with a lot of debate over both bouts).
Despite suffering his only Cruiserweight loss back in 2007, Huck is current 0-1-1 in his last 3 having scored a draw Afolabi last time out and a loss in a WBA Heavyweight title bout to Alexander Povetkin in his fight prior. In both of these Huck came on strong after losing a number of early rounds and in all honesty he could well have won both bouts due despite losing a number of early rounds. Against Arslan, Huck will likely start faster than he did in either of those bouts.
I imagine this will be very fun to watch as both men are happy to stand in front of opponents and land their own shots between their opponents attacks. Neither guy is a typical "boxer" and neither guy particularly likes to take a backward step, this would therefore look, at least on paper, like a really exciting to watch bout. Sadly despite the brilliant combination of styles, it's hard to see Arslan managing to keep up with Huck's pace and power. As a result of Huck being the younger, more powerful, bigger, stronger, tougher man...it's impossible to go against Huck.
Prediction: Huck by TKO6
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