Marco Huck moving to heavyweight division

Marco Huck, a longtime top cruiserweight and former titleholder, will be moving up to the heavyweight division full-time, starting with a June 16 fight against Yakup Saglam.

Huck, 33, has lost two in a row and three of his last five, and will look to essentially launch a second career in the new division. He was beaten in 2015 by Krzysztof Glowacki, who knocked Huck out in the 11th round, and then won fights against Ola Afolabi and Dmytro Kucher, before losing back-to-back bouts in 2017 to Mairis Briedis and Oleksandr Usyk.

Huck (40-5-1, 27 KO) losing those fights is not necessarily a sign that he’s finished, though — Usyk and Briedis are maybe the two best cruiserweights in the sport.

Saglam (40-4, 37 KO) is a big-punching veteran, 41 years old, whose most notable fight came in 2015, when he was stopped in two by Joseph Parker. He also has losses to Manuel Charr and Odlanier Solis by stoppage.

Huck fought at heavyweight in 2012, when he was beaten by majority decision in a challenge for Alexander Povetkin’s WBA “world” title.