By Alexey Sukachev
Erfurt, Germany - German enforcer Marco "Kapt'n" Huck (30-1, 23 KOs) retained his WBO cruiserweight title for the fourth time in just nine months in horrific fashion, dropping WBO #5 and IBF #11 American challenger Matt "Too Smooth" Godfrey (now 20-2, 10 KOs) three times before referee Gino Rodriguez has finally seen enough at 2:18 of the fifth round.
The German champion was his aggressive self since the first second of the very first round. After a bunch of lazy jabs by a little bit blubby Godfrey, Huck took the control of the fight and started delivering heat to his opponent. He just went through Godfrey's jab and pummelled him mercilessly from different angles.
It's worth noting, however, that the American proved his nickname was right on point as he was as elusive and as liquid in round one and avoided a majority of wide swings and hooks by the champion. Unfortunately for southpaw Godfrey, he wasn't very active on the offensive, his weak jab was lazy and inconsistent and his strength was obviously not enough to prevent a much bigger and stronger fighter to mix it up in close quarters. Godfrey fought particularly bad when trapped in the corners and near the ropes.
In round two it was all the same but the challenger employed a bad habit of being stationary near the ropes and using his footwork very poorly. Huck, on the other hand, fought exceptionally well and didn't let the time go by rushing on the inside with really bad intentions. At the very end of the stanza, Huck trapped Godfrey near the posters where American was able to avoid every single punch with his upper body movement until a major right hand dropped him down. Godfrey was up at the count of "four" and luckily heard the bell to end the round.
In the third, Godfrey tried to find both some breather and to feel the rhythm and the flux of the fight. He was successful in doing that for a minute or so until he was trapped near the ropes once again. This time he was able to deflect every legal punch from the champion but Huck added a major blow to the lowest section of his body and Godfrey went down face first. The referee give him some moments to recover and he was even able to avoid any more damage in sconds to come. The fourth stanza was very much the same except there were no knockdowns and Godfrey was able to tag Huck with several well-placed jabs and right hands. They didn't bring any attention of the champion however.
The end came in round five. After several heated exchanges, Godfrey was once again tagged with a big right hand and found himself down again. He bravely got up but there were no forces to stop stormy Huck on his way to the victory and after another fistic fusillade "Too Smooth" discovered himself too hard on the deck. Once again he barely stood up but Huck rushed in and soon got the job done with Godfrey being in no condition to defend himself. Yet another big win for the champion, who stopped three Americans in a row this year (Adam Richards, Brian Minto and Matt Godfrey). WBO #1 Denis Lebedev (21-0, 16 KOs) of Russia is Huck's mandatory. Nikolay Valuev and Arthur Abraham were in attendance.
In a dull and quiet fight, Serbian cruiserweight Enad Licina (18-2, 10 KOs) came back after his decision loss to Yoan Pablo Hernandez with a workmanlike victory over well-known Belgian Ismail Abdoul (35-18-2, 14 KOs). Abdoul, who went distance with likes of Hernandez, Marco Huck, Giacobbe Fragomeni, David Haye and Dawid Kostecki, was in his usual defensive mode since the start.
WBA #8 and IBF #9 Licina delivered his share of punishment to granite-chinned Abdoul (with an only stoppage loss coming from the hands of the WBC king Krzysztof Wlodarczyk) while his foe did almost nothing to turn back the tide. After eight rounds of action all four judges (including this reporter as an "unofficial official") scored it 80-72 - for Enad Licina, who has now two "UD 8" over the Belgian fighter; the first being scored three years ago.
Rising Austrian middleweight Marcos Nader (8-0, 1 KO), 20, scored a workmanlike eight-round unanimous decision over Finnish veteran and former BBU middleweight champion Kai "Ironman" Kauramaki (17-16, 6 KOs), 23 (!) years his senior.
19-year old Danish middleweight Patrick Nielsen (6-0, 5 KOs) continued his way up with an easy first-round destruction of overmatched Hungarian Laszlo Haaz (3-2). Time was 0:59 of the first.
German middleweight Dominik Britsch, 22, moved up to 20-0, with 7 KOs, after a hard-fought eight-round decision over Italian Lorenzo Cosseddu (23-5-5, 2 KOs). Light-hitting Cosseddu, 33, was more aggressive and also more effective in the first scoring much with his left hand while Britsch was mostly inactive and simply didn't do much. The german fighter used his sharp jab and fast but weak combinations to shut the Italian up in both the second and the third rounds. The Italian fighter proved to be a one-handed bandit, scoring much with his left and barely connecting with his right hand. Round four was a close one but Britsch almost floored Cosseddu with a major combo in the midst of the stanza. Round ffive and six saw a temporary comeback of Lorenzo Cosseddu, who tagged the German with severla well-placed punches. Rounds seven and eight were very close, with both fighters delivering their best.
After eight rounds, official scores were 78-75, 77-75 and 77-75 - for Dominik Britsch. BoxingScene saw it a bit closer at 77-76 - also for the German.
German light heavyweight Dustin Dirks (16-0, 11 KOs) continued his reign of terror with the seventh consecutive stoppage victory. This time 21-year old Dirks destroyed overmatched Finn Sami Selesmaa (4-2, 2 KOs) with a major left hook at 2:41 of the second round. Dirks is scheduled to appear next on Oct. 2 in the undercard of Abraham-Froch fight in Monaco.
WBA #15 heavyweight Robert Helenius (13-0, 8 KOs) turned his title contest against rugged Frenchman and fellow unbeaten prospect Gregory Tony (12-1, 10 KOs) into an impressive display of his pure boxing skills, powerful punching and fascinating ring generalship, which ended at 0:39 of the sixth stanza in yet another stoppage victory for a rapidly-rising Finnish fighter.
Helenius was in control of the game since the very beginning. He used his sharp jab and effective right cross to stop Frenchman in his tracks in rounds one. In round two, Helenius, 26, continued to school 32-year old opponent in round two allowing Tony to miss much with his swings and punishing him for it with his right hand. In the third stanza, The Nordic Nightmare started to deliver a bigger share of leather to his opponent. Helenius forced his rival to make mistakes and delivered another right hand to send him down for the first time. Tony stood up and bravely fought back only to lose the round completely.
The fourth saw Tony trying to impose his will on the Finn and, surely, without a bit of success. Helenius clamed him down with a pair of jabs and then repeated his last round's trick by forcing the Frenchman to attack and tagging him with the right. Things got even worse for Tony in the fifth, when he was hit hard by a big right of Helenius at the end of the round to be decked for the third time in a row. He was lucky to last till the bell but he had no chance in the world to survive longer. Early in round six, Helenius floored Tony for the fourth time in the fight. The Frenchman was able to get up but referee Howard John Foster stopped the contest moments later after another assault by the Nordic Nightmare. Robert Helenius is now EBU-EU heavyweight titleholder.
