14.09.05 – By Per Ake Persson: 20-year old German cruiser Marco Huck, 11-0 (10), is an interesting prospect on the European scene. He´s signed to Sauerland Event and matchmaker Hagen Doering explained how he discovered Huck: “We had him in our camp in a week for sparring and training. He simply went through the same things as our other guys. Marco showed us the desire to make it that we want to see. Other fighters may have much more amateur titles or whatever but it is the right attitude that counts.”
Special thanks to Marco of course for taking the time and to Frank Bleydorn of 12rounds for help with the translation.
Q: You scored your most significant win Sep 3 over Rüdiger May, how do you rate your performance and how did it feel to go ten rounds?
A: I proved that I cannot only win by knockout. For me it was a good experience to fight against such a experienced man. Naturally there were things, which I can still make better. But tactical it was a good performance by me.
Q: The win over May made you gate crash the ratings (or will the next month) – how do you see the competition out there at EBU and World level?
A: Naturally, I would like to fight for the EBU title or any of the world title. But I must think realistically. I have to become more experienced. In principle, I would not avoid any opponent and I feel strong enough for bigger fights.
Hagen Doering had this to say on the near future for Huck:
“Marco will be kept busy with two or three fights this year but we don´t want to rush him, he needs experience against different kind of opponents. We had calls from the camps of Firat Arslan (WBO I/C and German champ) and Lasse Johansen (IBF Int´l ruler) but no title fights yet. Marco is young and needs time to develop. I want learning fights for him, maybe eight rounds against a southpaw opponent. Next year we make our move towards bigger things.”
Q: I looked on your homepage – www.marco-huck.de but I couldn´t find anything on your amateur career – so what did you do as an amateur? When did you begin with boxing?
A: When I was ten years old I started with Taekwando and Kickboxing. With 15 years I began with boxing also. But I continued to be active as kickboxer. At 18 I won the Full Contact World Championship in Paris. Afterwards I turned completely to boxing. I had 15 amateur fights and I won them all. It was tough to get opponents though, nobody wanted to fight me.
Q: You turned pro very early at 19 – you didn´t want any Olympic titles?
A: At 19 year I got the offer to become a professional boxer. And a dream came true.
Q: In your own eyes – what are you strong points as a boxer? What do you need to work on?
A: I have a big heart, like a lion. I´m not afraid of anything or anyone. I train very hard and I have a big right hand. But in the future I must improve tactically and become more experienced.
Q: Of the guys you train with in the Sauerland Gym, who do you think is the best?
A: Oh, that´s not easy to say. There are a lot of extraordinary guys. There is the WBC-Champion Markus Beyer and heavyweights like Nikolay Valuev and Sinan Samil Sam. But I believe, also guys like Arthur Abraham and Alexander Sipos will go all the way.