Oleksandr Usyk vs Marco Huck

Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk retained the WBO cruiserweight championship by stopping Marco Huck in the tenth round at the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin on September 9, 2017. The contest opened the cruiserweight section of the newly established World Boxing Super Series and served as a quarter-final for the Muhammad Ali Trophy. Usyk, the tournament’s leading seed, entered unbeaten in 12 professional contests and was making the third defence of the championship he had won from Krzysztof Glowacki a year earlier. Huck, a former long-reigning holder of the same title, brought a record of 40 wins, four defeats and one draw. Usyk weighed approximately 199½ pounds and Huck 198¾. Robert Byrd was the referee.

The atmosphere had been sharpened by an unpleasant final press conference, where Huck pushed the champion during their face-off. Huck had held the WBO title from 2009 until 2015 and made 13 successful defences, equalling the divisional record, but his forceful, irregular style was being matched against an opponent of superior speed and movement. Usyk, a southpaw and the 2012 Olympic heavyweight gold medallist, had already demonstrated his ability to maintain a high pace through 12 rounds. Huck’s best opportunity appeared to lie in crowding him, making the fight physical and denying him the space needed to work behind his jab.

Usyk spent the first round moving at distance and studying the challenger’s approach. Huck remained behind a high guard for much of the session before attacking more vigorously in the final minute. His punches were mostly taken on Usyk’s gloves, and some of his work strayed towards the back of the champion’s head when they came together. Usyk answered by directing punches to the body and moving away before Huck could establish himself at close quarters. The champion’s footwork forced Huck to turn repeatedly and prevented him from applying sustained pressure.

The southpaw jab became the controlling punch in the second. Usyk used it to keep Huck at a distance and followed with straight left hands whenever the challenger tried to force his way forward. Huck occasionally reached the champion, but he could not keep him in position. During the final minute, Usyk drove him to the ropes and landed several left hands through and around the guard. The advantage widened in the third. Usyk varied the jab, sometimes using it as a rangefinder and at other times striking firmly enough to interrupt Huck’s advance. Huck tried to counter with the orthodox right against the southpaw stance, but his punches frequently fell short. A late attack left him pinned against the ropes and taking several clean blows.

Huck attempted to slow the proceedings through clinching in the fourth. He landed a solid right hand during the middle portion of the round, one of his better punches of the contest, but Usyk answered immediately with a series of accurate blows and again drove him backwards. The champion’s movement was not merely defensive. He stepped around Huck, altered the angle and returned with punches before the challenger could reset. By the fifth, Usyk was stalking rather than retreating. His straight left repeatedly penetrated Huck’s guard, and the former champion’s replies became less frequent. Huck’s face was reddening, and he was unsteady near the close as Usyk increased the speed and number of his combinations.

The sixth was quieter. Usyk reduced his output for a time, while Huck appeared unable to take advantage of the pause. The challenger remained upright and physically strong, but he could neither close the distance consistently nor produce enough punches once he arrived there. Usyk resumed his attack during the seventh, beating Huck to the punch and working in sustained bursts over the final two minutes. He mixed straight shots with hooks from both hands and moved to a new position before Huck could answer. Huck continued resisting, but his attacks were increasingly isolated, and his reliance upon holding and rough work showed his difficulty in coping with the champion’s pace.

Usyk was again in command during the eighth. Huck absorbed several combinations and attempted to retaliate, though his counters lacked sufficient speed to stop the champion advancing. Near the end of the round, Usyk landed a heavy left and moved forward to follow it. His feet became entangled with Huck’s, and he fell to the canvas. While Usyk was down, Huck struck him with a right hand. Byrd immediately halted the action and deducted one point from the challenger for the deliberate foul. The incident did not produce a knockdown, and Usyk showed no lasting effect when the contest resumed.

The champion continued attacking in the ninth, switching his blows between head and body. Huck’s occasional punches were increasingly directed low or towards the back of the head, but they did little to interrupt Usyk’s work. The challenger was hurt more than once and spent long passages behind his guard while the champion struck from alternating angles. Usyk remained balanced after punching and gave Huck little opportunity to counter. By the end of the round, Huck’s face was marked, and his resistance depended more upon durability than effective defence.

Usyk increased the pressure from the beginning of the tenth. He drove Huck around the ring with rapid combinations, landing straight lefts, right hooks and shorter punches when the challenger attempted to cover. Huck was exhausted and increasingly unable to return fire. He remained on his feet but was being struck repeatedly as he moved along the ropes without offering an effective reply. At 2 minutes 18 seconds, Byrd stepped between the fighters and stopped the contest. There had been no knockdowns, but Huck’s condition and inability to defend himself made further action unnecessary.

The victory raised Usyk’s record to 13–0 with 11 stoppages and carried him into the World Boxing Super Series semi-finals, where he was due to meet the winner of Mairis Briedis and Mike Perez. Huck fell to 40–5–1 and suffered consecutive defeats for the first time in his career, having previously lost a decision to Briedis. His courage enabled him to remain in the contest for ten rounds, but he was unable to make his greater professional experience count against Usyk’s footwork, accuracy and sustained output. The champion controlled nearly every phase of the match and completed a one-sided defence with a stoppage that arrived only after Huck had ceased to offer meaningful resistance.

I knew Marco Huck would try to make this ugly because that was where he did his best work. He had been a strong, successful champion, but by 2017 the hard fights had taken something from him. Against Usyk, roughness was his only realistic route to victory.

Usyk took that away with his feet. He kept turning Huck, changing the angle after every combination and making him reset before he could plant himself. That southpaw jab controlled everything. When Huck managed to close the distance, Usyk tied him up, stepped away and resumed punching. It was intelligent boxing performed at a pace Huck couldn’t follow.

Huck became frustrated and started using the old tricks, holding, hitting low, and finally punching Usyk while he was down in the eighth. The point deduction was fully deserved.

By the tenth, Huck was exhausted and taking unanswered combinations. Robert Byrd’s stoppage was correct. There was no purpose in allowing a brave but beaten man to absorb more punishment.

What stood out was that Usyk did this in only his 13th professional fight against a former champion with vast experience. He didn’t merely beat Huck; he made his strength, aggression and experience irrelevant. That was the night Usyk showed he was the man to beat in the cruiserweight tournament.