Huck vs Afolabi 4 – Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle, Germany hosts boxing this Saturday, February 27th.
The main event sees Ola Afolabi and Marco Huck meeting for the fourth time. Huck is 38-3-1 and is a long-time holder of world titles in the Cruiserweight division. Huck is coming off a loss in his last outing, which was also his United States debut. He dropped his belt to Poland’s Krzysztof Glowacki via KO in round 11 in a “Fight of the Year” candidate. Huck has gone 2-0-1 against Afolabi in his career, and the two have already fought a total of 36 rounds.
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Afolabi is 22-4-4 and he made himself a more attractive opponent in his last outing, when he faced Rakhim Chakhkiev in Russia and stopped him in the fifth round to take home the minor IBO World Cruiserweight title. It was a stand out performance and it was a fight where Afolabi entered as a betting underdog. Now he returns to face his nemesis in Huck. Based on his last performance, Afolabi is in top form right now.
This is a bounce back fight for Huck, who held the WBO World Cruiserweight title for five years. He has a lot of fights on his resume, but he is still just 31 years old and he is looking to get back into the title picture. Prior to the Glowacki fight, Huck’s last loss came at the hands of Alexander Povetkin at Heavyweight. He chose Afolabi as a ‘bounce back” fight after that loss and Afolabi fought him to a draw.
The co-main event is a noteworthy fight because it features the return of Cecilia Braekhus. Braekhus owns every repsectable women’s title at welterweight, and at 27-0 she has been considered the top pound for pound woman fighter in the world for several years. She did not fight in 2015, first because of a dispute that saw her change management companies, and then injury. She was scheduled to return last November on the undercard of Wladimir Klitschko vs Tyson Fury, but that was pushed back to this fight. Huck is a big star and the fight is set to air on RTL in Germany, but this is a smaller stage than Klitschko vs Fury would have been. Braekhus is now in her mid-thirties, so she will certainly be looking to earn as much money as possible with her future fights, but many people are interested to see if Braekhus has declined after 15 months without fighting.
As for Namus, she is 21-3 over her career, and she has been in the world title picture for several years. She hails from Uruguay, and her resume includes a lot of fights in Argentina where there is a robust women’s boxing network. Unfortunately for her, she is coming up from the Lightweight division, jumping two weight classes. This will also be her first time fighting outside of South America, so it will certainly be the biggest stage she has ever performed on.
Huck vs Afolabi 4 and Braekhus vs Namus Odds
Check out the odds and the over/under lines for the two fights below.
Cruiserweight 12 rounds –
Ola Afolabi +205 o9½ -440
Marco Huck -245 u9½ +350
Welterweight 10 rounds –
Chris Namus +2200
Cecilia Braekhus -5500
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