Marco Huck to Defend WBO Crown Against Brian Minto -- FanHouse

By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse

Serbian-born, WBO cruiserweight (200 pounds) champion, Marco "Captain" Huck (pictured above), of Bielefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, will defend his title on May 1 against American, Brian Minto, a 35-year-old, resident of Butler, Pa., who has spent his career fighting as a heavyweight.

The 25-year-old Huck (28-1, 21 knockouts) will be after his 10th consecutive victory, and his eighth knockout during that stretch, having suffered his lone defeat by 12th-round knockout against former IBF cruiserweight champion, Steve Cunningham (22-2, 11 KOs), of Philadelphia, in December of 2007.

Huck is coming off of a March 13, third-round knockout of Adam Richards (23-3, 25 KOs), who was in his third straight cruiserweight bout after having spent his career as a heavyweight.

The 29-year-old Richards had decisioned two cruiserweight opponents before losing to Huck.

"After taking care of business against Richards, I am now looking to put aside Minto. He is a strong guy, but there is no way that he will defeat me," said Huck, who will face Minto before his partisan fans at EWE-Arena, Oldenburg, Niedersachsen, Germany.

"Minto is tough, so I will be prepared for 12 hard rounds," said Huck. "But everybody knows that I love to please my fans and give them a knock-out win. It is my goal to beat him clearly."

Nicknamed, "The Beast," Minto (34-3, 21 KOs) is coming off of December's fourth-round, knockout loss to Chris Arreola (28-1, 25 KOs), or Riverside, Calif., who out-weighed Minto by a career-high, 263-to-218 pounds.

Before the loss to Arreola, the stocky, 5-foot-11 Minto had won seven straight, including five by knockout.

Minto is aiming at the 200-pound category for the first time as a professional, having weighed a career-low, 205 for a February, 2004, six-round, unanimous decision over Willis Lockett, and been a career-high 223 pounds for his first-round knockout of Byron Polley in December of 2007.

Entering the Arreola bout, Minto was coming off of August's fourth-round, technical decision victory over previously unbeaten Donnell Holmes, who was 31-0-2 with 27 KOs coming in.

In his biggest career victory in November of 2006, Minto traveled to Germany for a sixth-round knockout victory over former heavyweight contender, Axel Schulz, that followed the latter's stoppage loss to Wladimir Klitschko.

Source: boxing.fanhouse.com