Petra Kirsch – Gelsenkirchen
WBO cruiserweight world champion Marco Huck (32-1-0, 23ko) intends on making challenger Hugo Garay (34-5-0, 18ko) pay for his previous remarks that he intended on killing Huck, as well as his “ridiculous” behaviour at one of the final pre-fight press conferences this week ahead of their world title clash at the Olympia-Eissportzentrum, Munich, Germany on Saturday, July 16.
Hugo claimed he wanted to kill Kapt'n Huck
Argentinean challenger Garay, a former WBA light heavyweight champion with a notable win over Juergen Braehmer, intends on making an explosive debut attempt at a cruiserweight crown as he predicted to boxing scribes earlier this week that he would “kill” Kapt’n Huck this weekend.
Such brash claims and bad intentions are not uncommon in build-ups to world championship fights and were even witnessed earlier this month when David Haye sought to unify his WBA heavyweight belt with Wladimir Klitschko’s collection of honours, only to fall at the final hurdle come fight night. Huck, like Wladimir, shrugged off Garay’s headline-grabbing statements.
“I don’t care about his remarks,” Huck said in between shadow-boxing at a public work out session this week. “I will give my answer in the ring. With the support of my fans, I will make another exciting title defence. The belt remains in Germany! I will get married as world champion on July 30.”
Huck’s trainer Ulli Wegner added: “We already know everything there is to know about him. We have studied the tapes of his fights for hours. He is a strong and a very active fighter, so Marco needs to be on alert. Marco needs to stick to our game plan. Then he will leave the ring as the winner.”
Huck, an experienced champion in the 200lb weight division, will be making the sixth defence of his WBO belt this weekend. Fighting has long been a passion of Huck… the 26-year-old began Taekwando and kickboxing as early as ten years old, and enjoyed an illustrious amateur career as he picked up gold at the W.A.K.O European championship in 2003 before replicating that success on the global circuit the following year.
The sole blemish on Huck’s record is a 2007 decision defeat to American Steve Cunningham, when Huck challenged for the IBF version of the cruiserweight title. He also made a notable title defence recently against Denis Lebedev, gaining a split decision win when certain quarters of the boxing media scored a win for the Russian, however, Huck went on to inflict a first defeat on Ran Nakash’s career in April, this year.
Huck has vowed to maintain his composure come fight night this weekend and turn Garay’s heckling and laughter into crying and tears of pain. At a press conference this week Garay arrived late, mocked Huck and taunted the assembled press. When questioned about his erratic behaviour Garay explained that he “had to be self confident” and that he came to Germany to “take the title”. During the obligatory staredown, Garay even attempted to kiss Huck, which caused a melee.
Huck responded: “Right now, Garay is laughing, but on Saturday night, he will be crying. His behavior is ridiculous. He cannot come here, insult the press and my team and expect to get away with it. I will make him pay in the ring. He will be crying for mercy once we collide on Saturday.”
Promoter Wilfriend Sauerland also commented on Garay’s actions: “During the many years in boxing I have seen a lot of strange behavior from challengers. It is a clear sign that Garay is really scared. But then again, he has every reason to be afraid of Marco Huck. With his explosiveness and power, Marco will make another spectacular defence on Saturday night.”
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