By Mark Vester
At Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (27-1, 20KOs) won a very tough twelve round unanimous decision over interim-champion Ola Afolabi (14-2-3, 6KOs) to retain the title. The scores were 115-113, 115-113 and 116-112 for Huck.
Afolabi was using his left jab often at the start of the contest and landed it well to the head and body of Huck. Afolabi made Huck miss a lot of punches. Huck began to press the action the third. He was pushing forward and throwing some big combinations. Afolabi fought fire with fire off the left jab. Huck came right back with punches to the head and body. They fought at close range on the inside, trading punches. Huck started landing combinations to the head and Afolabi taunted him by shaking them off and playing to the crowd.
Afolabi started pressing the action in the first minute of the fourth, he was punching to the head and body and worked his left jab to set the punches up. Huck was landing the hard shots upstairs and trying to bait Afolabi into a fire fight. Huck was able to score every time he backed Afolabi into the ropes and fired off combinations from all angles. Afolabi continued to taunt Huck when hit, but that did little to impress the judges.
Huck continued to press the action in the fifth round with big combinations punches when Afolabi was against the ropes. Afolabi fought back and the two of them were brawling with wild punches until the bell. The same type of pace continued in the sixth and seventh rounds. Huck did better at close range in the eight and started backing Afolabi up more often with his harder shots.
During the ninth, Huck kept the fight close to cut off Afolabi's jab, landing punches on the inside and outworking Afolabi. Huck landed some good hard shots at the start of the tenth to send Afolabi into the ropes. He didn't stay there long and actually went back to fighting Huck at close range until the bell. In the eleventh, it appeared as if Afolabi was looking for one big shot as Huck was showing a lot more of a workrate by throwing and landing numerous combinations. During the twelfth, Afolabi was still looking for that one big punch. Huck was making him miss and returned fire with combinations that seemed to shake Afolabi up. They started brawling at close range in the final 40 seconds. Huck was getting the better of the exchanges. They fought toe to toe until the final bell.
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