Braekhus, Huck Grab Wins in Germany

Huck Grab Wins – Former WBO World Cruiserweight Champion Marco Huck faced nemesis Ola Afolabi for the fourth time this past Saturday, February 27th in front of a packed house of roughly 12,000 at the Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle, Germany. The two have fought for 36 rounds over three fights aleady, with Huck holding the edge, going 2-0-1.

Check out The Boxing Channel’s video with results and highlights.

For Huck, it was a bounce back fight, as he lost his last fight back in August, getting stopped in the eleventh round of a knock-down, drag-out affair with Krzysztof Glowacki. Afolabi was trying to continue his momentum, as he was coming off a big win in Russia last November that saw him win the minor IBO World Cruiserweight title.

From the start, it was clear that both men knew each other very well. The tendency to stand in front of each other in close quarters and throw one hard punch was prevalent. Huck had a flurry in round one, and he used his clinch effectively to shut down any potential flurries by Afolabi. Huck appeared to wobble Afolabi as round five came to a close and he worked to finish. The left side of Afolabi’s face was swollen badly and Huck became more aggressive in rounds six and seven. A cut above Afolabi’s left eye appeared to come from a head butt, and the fighters ended a lot of exchanges in sloppy clinches. Afolabi was getting hit more and more, and Huck landed a lot of punches because Afolabi kept his left hand low.

This fight was more about attrition as both men got rough at times. Round eight saw Huck catch Afolabi along the ropes and his flurry had the crowd on its feet. Afolabi survived the flurry, but his corner considered stopping the fight before sending Afolabi out for the ninth round with the instructions to throw uppercuts. Though Afolabi had better moments, the swelling of his face appeared to affect his vision and he ate a lot of big shots. Huck, who had be warned for several infractions throughout the fight, had a point deducted for hitting Afolabi after the bell.

Afolabi would not answer the bell for round 11, as the referee called the fight between rounds. It is the first time Afolabi has been stopped in his career, and Huck got the “w” he was looking for.

The second feature fight of the evening saw Cecilia Braekhus return to action as she took on Uruguay’s Chris Namus. Braekhus entered the fight a perfect 27-0 in her career, and she holds the WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO World titles at Welterweight, but she had not fought in fifteen months.

With just 7 KO’s in her career and with six of her last eight bouts going the distance, Braekhus is not known for her power. What she is known for is her combination punching and accuracy, and those qualities were on full display against Namus.

Braekhus was measured in the opening round, before picking up the pace in rounds two and three. Namus has to be given credit for not backing up, and she was throwing punches throughout as well, but Braekhus eased into another gear, landing on Namus and repeatedly snapping her head back. Namus never gave up, but Braekhus never relented, landing with pinpoint precision throughout the fight. In the end, it was no surprise as all three judges gave the match to Braekhus 100-90. She now moves her perfect record to 28-0.

Additional results from the complete night of fights appear below.

February 27th – Gerry Weber Stadium
Halle, Germany, United Kingdom

RESULTS:
Cruiserweight: Marco Huck over Ola Afolabi by TKO @3:00 of RD 10.
Welterweight: Cecilia Braekhus over Chris Namus by UD (100-90,100-90,100-90)
Super Welter: Besar Nimani over Chris Hermann by TKO in RD 3.
Super Middle: Dominik Britsch over Salavisa Simeunovic by UD (80-73.80-73,80-73)