WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (35-2-1, 25 KO’s) will be facing Ola Afolabi (19-2-4, 9 KO’s) tonight at the Max Schmeling Halle in Berlin, Germany. This will be third and possibly the final time these two fighters go at unless Afolabi can pull off an upset. He was beaten by Huck in 2009 in losing a 12 round unanimous decision.
In their second fight in 2012, the two fought to a 12 round draw. Afolabi did enough to deserve the decision in the minds of many boxing fans, but he didn’t fight well down the home stretch and that ended up keeping him from getting the victory. Afolabi has been inactive since that fight.
Huck has fought once since then, beating Firat Arslan by a controversial 12 round unanimous decision. Huck didn’t look as strong in that fight as he did against Afolabi and it makes you wonder whether Afolabi took something out of Huck because he wasn’t as strong or as confiderent.
Tonight’s fight will come down to which fighter has enough left in the tank. Huck, 28, is younger than the 33-year-old Afolabi, but he’s also been in a lot of hard fights and taken a lot of head shots, especially in his fights with Afolbai and Alexander Povetkin.
It could be that Huck doesn’t have it anymore and is basically heading downwards. If so, then we could see Afolabi take the decision tonight. Afolabi will have to really put it on Huck for the full 12 rounds if he wants to get the decision, however, because Huck is the home fighter and it’s not going to be easy getting a decision for Afolabi.
If Afolabi runs out of gas like he did last time he fought Huck, then I can’t see the judges giving Afolabi the victory even if he outworks Huck in the majority of the rounds.