“Don King beat everybody. He put up a million and a half,” said WBO President Paco Valcarcel, speaking to RingTV.com from Miami on Tuesday in the aftermath of his organization’s 11. a.m. purse bid for the right to promote a third bout between RING No. 1-rated cruiserweight and WBO titleholder Marco Huck and rival Ola Afolabi.

With his bid of $1.5 million, King, 81, came virtually out of nowhere to trump those of both Huck’s promoter, Sauerland Events, of $914,444, and of Afolabi’s handlers, K2 Promotions, of $375,000. The minimum allowable offer for the bout was $300,000.

Huck (35-2-1, 25 knockous) and Afolabi (19-2-4, 9 KOs) battled to a disputed draw in May of last year, the last time Afolabi was in the ring, and are expected to fight, yet again, on May 25 in Halle, Germany, according to Valcarcel.

Meanwhile, Huck, 28, of Germany, is coming off November’s unanimous decision victory over Firat Arslan, who had gone 3-0-1 with three knockout victories before the loss.

Prior to facing Afolabi in their last meeting, Huck, had lost a disputed majority decision to WBA regular heavyweight beltholder Alexander Povetkin (25-0, 17 KOs) in February of last year. Huck lost to Povetkin, 114-114, 116-113 and 116-112, although THE RING scored it 115-113 for Huck.

In his next fight in September, Povetkin stopped former undisputed heavyweight chapion Hasim Rahman in the second round.

Before facing Afolabi the second time, Huck had won 15 straight fights as a 200-pounder, including 11 by knockout, since falling by 12th-round stoppage to Steve Cunningham in December of 2007.

Huck defended his crown against Afolabi, 32, by unanimous decision in December of 2009.

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]