Marco Huck breaks hand, withdraws from January 11th fight with Joe Joyce

Marco Huck’s January 11th European title fight with Joe Joyce is off. “Cap’n” revealed on Facebook today that he injured his right hand in sparring, leaving him unable to make the Hannover date. The current plan is to reschedule it once he recovers.

As Michael Benson points out, the organizers were tempting fate by calling it “Brexit Battle.”

The question, now, is whether Joyce (10-0, 9 KO) still intends to pursue the fight. Fellow British bruiser Daniel Dubois is reportedly on the table after “Dynamite’s” one-punch finish of Kyotaro Fujimoto this past weekend, and that’s a more appealing matchup on practically every level. It would almost certainly be more fun to watch, as Huck (41-5-1, 28 KO) is at his best in ugly slogs, figures to be considerably more competitive, and critically, does more to advance the 34-year-old “Juggernaut’s” career. The clock’s ticking.

Looking at the EBU’s rankings, it’s not clear who would take Joyce’s place if he sprang for the Dubois fight instead. Best as I can tell, EBU “external” champ Umut Camkirian looks like he’d get the call. Everyone ranked above him is involved with world-level fights except for Agit Kabayel, who already vacated this title.

Whatever the result, we wish Huck a swift and uncomplicated recovery.