By Alexey Sukachev

WBO cruiserweight champion Marko Huck (38-2-1, 26 KOs) will risk his belt this coming Friday against undefeated Polish challenger Krzysztof Glowacki (24-0, 15 KOs). The fight will mark Huck’s 14th defense of the belt. He acquired the title six years ago and successfully defended his championship ever since. One of his toughest was a split decision over then-undefeated Russian challenger Denis Lebedev in December 2010 in a fight many thought should have been awarded in the other direction.

In the last week Huck traded some verbal shots with Andrey Ryabinskiy, the head of World of Boxing and promoter of Lebedev (27-2, 20 KOs), who is desperately searching for a rematch. The comments were made by both parties via Sportbox.ru.

“I was contacted by one of Ryabinskiy’s underlings, a “penguin” (of sorts). I was asked if I’m ready to fight Lebedev in a rematch and I’ve certainly told him that I was ready to do that anywhere, anytime – in Moscow, or in St. Petersburg, or in any other city. But then he whispered: 'You know what? Mr. Ryabinskiy has some financial problems now. Take less money for the fight.' This means, (Andrey) Ryabinksiy is experiencing some financial problems. This crisis hit him severely, and I can earn much more for any garbage fight against tomato cans than for a rematch with Lebedev," said Huck to Alexander Pavlov.

“Okay, I got it. I told them to come fight in Germany if there are no funds for this fight in Russia. I said them right away, 'If you are so poor you need a welfare check, come to Germany with Lebedev, and I’ll pay you even more right here for such a bout. I’ll provide you with a five-star hotel and a charter – no problem to that."

“They have said Germany was too dangerous. Why is Germany dangerous?! No danger over there. Germany is a beautiful country”, added Huck.

Ryabinskiy was quick with his fire back at the German.

“If Huck dares to think I’m on the losing edge of [a financial] crisis, he is wrong. I haven’t lost my stock at all," said Ryabinksiy to TASS.

“We have offered him 500,000 USD for the Denis (Lebedev) fight. Huck refused to take it and made a counter-proposal with an unrealistic sum, extending to 5 million euros for him. Everyone with sufficient knowledge of boxing will understand clearly who is kidding, and who is not."