Huck outclasses, dominates, and stops Godfrey in five

Marco Huck made his fourth successful defense of the WBO cruiserweight title with a dominant victory over Matt Godfrey today in Erfurt, Germany, stopping the American challenger in the fifth round.

Huck (30-1, 23 KO) was content to lay back and wait for chances to rush Godfrey (20-2, 10 KO), who fought southpaw and mostly pawed an ineffective jab. In the second round, Godfrey went down for the first time. Huck repeated his strategy of walking Godfrey into the corner and then recklessly unleashing a hail storm of blows for much of the fight. He was on the verge of another knockdown in the third round, but landed an unintentional low blow that halted his flurry. In the fifth, Godfrey went down again, and then moments later fell out of the ring for a third knockdown. Just after that, referee Genaro Rodriguez called a stop to the fight with Godfrey on the ropes, doing his very best to survive, but not fighting back to Huck's immense pressure.

It was a poor showing overall for Godfrey, the 29-year-old from Providence. He's got talent, but he seemed intimidated by Huck, easily pushed back, and unable to deal with Huck's power at all. It's back to the drawing board for "Too Smooth," but to his credit after the fight he didn't seem to complain much, crediting Huck for being tough to handle throwing seven or eight punches at a time.

It's Huck's third win over an American in 2010. Given his activity and the fact that he's taken almost no punishment this year, it wouldn't be surprising to see him fight again before the calendar turns. Right now, Sauerland Event is working on a cruiserweight Super Six-style tournament, which Huck would of course take part in should it get finalized.

On the undercard:

• Robert Helenius TKO-6 Gregory Tony. The win gives Helenius (13-0, 8 KO) a minor European heavyweight strap. Tony falls to 12-1 (10 KO).
• Enad Licina UD-8 Ismail Abdoul. Licina (18-2, 10 KO) gets back in the win column after a loss last October to Yoan Pablo Hernandez. Licina swept all three cards, 80-72.
• Dustin Dirks KO-2 Sami Selesmaa. Dirks (16-0, 11 KO) continues to build a record. The 21-year-old light heavyweight prospect stopped Selesmaa at 2:41 of the second round.