By Alexey Sukachev and Inna Lagun (Allboxing.ru)

Porsche Arena, Stuttgart, Germany - WBA "regular" heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (24-0, 16 KOs) retained his title with a very tough majority decision over WBO cruiserweight king Marco Huck (34-2, 25 KOs). Povetkin dominated early, but Huck returned fire in the later rounds to stagger the WBA champion several times. In the final two rounds, a few tired Povetkin was hanging on while Huck was trying to finish him off with big right hands.

The scores were 116-113 and 116-112 and 114-114. Many fans and experts called it a controversial decision. Huck and his trainer were very upset, feeling they clearly won.

Marko Huck: “Povetkin couldn’t even stand on his feet. Why is he then declared the champion then? Tonight Sauerland [Event] was the winner. A lot of fans saw me as the real winner. My punches were well planted”.

Ulli Wegner, Huck’s trainer: “I’ve said it before that the only chance Marco had to win was with a knockout victory. And he was very close to getting one… and then they stopped it because of the bell. Had Marco landed another decent shot, he would have knocked Povetkin out for sure. Povetkin stayed very low all of the time, and I can't understand why he wasn’t penalized for that."

Alexander Povetkin: “I don’t know why the fight went this way. Maybe I underestimated him [Huck]. The fight started off pretty good for me, but then it got worse. I just got tired. I don’t know. Maybe I didn't take this fight as seriously as I needed to."