Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer 9y

Huck coming to U.S. for PBC fight

Cruiserweight titleholder Marco Huck is headed for his first fight in the United States.

Huck, one of boxing’s most crowd-pleasing fighters, has fought 40 of his 41 fights in his native Germany, with one coming in neighboring Switzerland. But he is poised to defend his title June 12 in Chicago against mandatory challenger Krzysztof Glowacki (24-0, 15 KOs), a 28-year-old southpaw from Poland, on a Spike TV-televised “Premier Boxing Champions” card, a source with knowledge of the agreement told ESPN.com.

On Monday, the WBO announced that a deal was reached between Huck and Glowacki. so the purse bid scheduled for the next day was canceled.

Huck has been in litigation with promoter Sauerland Event over his contract, arguing it expired in December. Sauerland Event, however, claims the deal runs through at least late April, although it appears as though Sauerland is not doing much to try to stand in the way of the June fight.

In October, Huck announced he would not renew his contract with Sauerland Event and had formed Huck Sports Promotion. But he was unable to find a television to deal to his satisfaction in Germany, one of the reasons he accepted an offer to come to the U.S. for the PBC fight. When he announced the formation of his promotional company last fall he said he wanted to fight in the United States and eventually challenge heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

When Huck does fight, he will not have longtime trainer Ulli Wegner in his corner, as Wegner is under contract to train Sauerland Event fighters. Instead Huck will be trained by Las Vegas-based trainer Don House, known to many as the trainer of former heavyweight titleholder Bermane Stiverne.

Huck and House worked out together over the course of a few days several months ago and hit it off. House told ESPN.com that he is going to Germany in a week or so to finalize their deal and begin training him for the June 12 fight. House said they would likely spend about four weeks training in Europe and then train for the final four weeks in the United States.

“I like that he’s aggressive. I think I’m gonna have to slow him down but I like what he brings,” House said. “He’s hungry. I like a kid like that. He likes to fight. He wants to do four or five fights a year. He wants to fight and that’s a novelty to me because not all the guys you work with are hungry like that.”

Huck (38-2-1, 26 KOs), 30, has held his title since 2009 and has made 13 defenses, tied with England’s Johnny Nelson for the most in division history. A win against Glowacki will set the division record.

According to former pound-for-pound king Roy Jones Jr., he and Huck have had personal conversations about fighting each other later this year. But if Huck takes care of Glowacki his next challenger could be B.J. Flores (31-1-1, 20 KOs). Flores is due to appear on the June 12 undercard and if he and Huck both win, they would square off next.

^ Back to Top ^