Four days ahead of their title fight at the Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle, Germany, WBO Cruiserweight Champion Marco “Captain” Huck (31-1, 23 KOs) and challenger Ran Nakash (25-0, 18 KOs) participated in an open work-out today. “The belt will remain in Germany,” Huck said. “I am the world champion and I will still be the world champion after Saturday night. Nakash cannot beat me.”
Huck worked the pads with coach Ulli Wegner, who expects a tough night for his hard-hitting champion. “Marco must not underestimate his opponent,” Wegner said. “Nakash is unbeaten and will therefore enter the arena with a lot of confidence. It will be an interesting match-up, but if Marco sticks to the game plan, he will leave the ring victorious.”
Nakash boasts a perfect record of 25 victories in as many fights (18 KOs). After Giacobbe Fragomeni pulled out due to an injury, he took the fight on short notice. “It was only last week on Tuesday or Wednesday that I heard about my world title shot, but that is no problem for me at all,“ he stated. “I had planed to fight in April anyway and have been in full training. I could not pass on the chance to become world champion. I will make the most of it.”
In the co-featured main event, WBO Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion Robert Helenius (14-0, 9 KOs) will put his title on the line against former world champion Sam Peter (34-4, 27 KOs). The WBA Intercontinental Heavyweight Title will also be at stake. Both men decided not to give the opposing camp too many insights into their training routine, settling for a little shadow boxing during today´s work-out. “I have prepared well for Peter,” Helenius said. “On my way to the top, I need to defeat the best opponents out there and Peter clearly is one of them. I am ready to make the next step on my way up the rankings.”
(Picture Credit: Marianne Mueller)
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
