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Krzysztof Glowacki pulls off shocker against Marco Huck

Fighters Network
14
Aug
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

NEWARK, N.J.ÔÇö Krzysztof Glowacki just had to breathe for the Polish contingent that packed the Prudential Center Friday night to erupt. But just inside the first minute of the sixth round, there was their hero, Glowacki, on his back and struggling the find his senses after receiving a walloping left hook to the side of his head from Marco Huck.

And when it looked like Glowacki was done, finished, he found something that enabled him to survive. Glowacki got up and not only lasted the sixth, he turned the Prudential Center into Little Poland, pulling off a major upset by stopping Huck at 2:39 of the 11th round to become the WBO cruiserweight champion in one of the most exciting fights this year.

Glowacki spoiled Huck’s bid at a cruiserweight record 14th-straight successful title defense, looking to break the record he shares with Johnny Nelson. Ironically, Huck’s last cruiserweight loss came by TKO 12 on Dec. 29, 2007 against Steve Cunningham, who was fighting in the main event against Antonio Tarver.

At the time of the stoppage, George Hill and Lawrence Layton had Huck up, 96-93, and Lynne Carter had it 95-94, also for Huck.



The fight featured knockdowns (Glowacki in the sixth Huck in the 11th), comebacks (Glowacki getting up and giving Huck hell in the sixth), and plenty of action. Basically, it had everything you would want in a fight.

“I still couldn’t hear well after the knockdown, and I didn’t even realize (referee David Fields) was counting,” Glowacki said. “(Huck) wanted to dominate me and bully me, but I always had something bad in me against losing. My trainer told me to pace myself, but I did not listen to him. I knew the second part of the fight was mine, so I decided to go for broke. This is the biggest day of my life.”

Huck (38-3-1, 26 knockouts) knocked down Glowacki with an awkward left hook to the head. Glowacki landed on his back and his eyes were hollow. But the Polish southpaw somehow managed to regroup in time to beat the count, and completely turned the rest of the round in his favor with digging shots to the body and finding creases in Huck’s defense.

That proved to be the difference in the fight.

An overhand left by Glowacki (25-0, 16 KOs) in the 11th led to Huck’s demise. Huck fell in a heap in the corner, but rose in time, though on shaky legs. Glowacki still had 30 seconds left to finish, and bore right into the German-based Serbian. Once again, Glowacki had Huck in trouble, and he was falling again when Fields intervened and ended it.

Though he was down on all three scorecards, Glowacki outlanded Huck in total punches, 147 out of 436 (33.7-percent) to 127 out of 395 (32.2-percent). Glowacki’s jab was particularly effective; he landed 42 out of 169 (24.9-percent) jabs to Huck’s pathetic 10 out of 130 (7.7-percent). Huck did, however, connect with more power shots, 117 out of 265 (44.2-percent) to Glowacki’s 105 out of 267 (39.3-percent).

In the first fight of the night, junior welterweight Mikkel LesPierre (10-0, 4 KOs) remained undefeated with a six-round decision over Kevin Womack Jr. (7-7-3, 5 KOs). LesPierre, 30, seems a little too old for some of the childish antics he tries to pull in the ring. In a scheduled eight-rounder, junior middleweight Jarrett Hurd (16-0, 10 KOs) stopped gutsy Jeff Lentz (5-1, 1 KO) at 2:59 of the seventh round. In another scheduled eight-rounder that went the distance, junior featherweight Luis Rosa (21-0, 10 KOs) sliced up Giovanni Caro (24-17-4, 19 KOs), winning a headbutt-induced seventh-round victory.

Featherweight Kamil Laszczyk (21-0, 8 KOs), a strong partisan Polish contingent behind him, won a unanimous eight-round decision against Oscauris Frias (16-1, 6 KOs). Laszczyk was one of the more impressive fighters on the undercard. He’s an all-action fighter who had some holes in his defense.

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