Nakash to Fight for World Title

The Ring is reporting that Ran Nakash is a late replacement to take on WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck at Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle, Germany on April 2. This marks the fifth time since November 2009 that a Jewish fighter has participated in a world title bout.

Yuri Foreman won the WBA junior middleweight crown by defeating Daniel Santos on November 14, 2009. Less than a month later, on December 5, Dmitriy Salita was knocked out within one round against WBA junior welterweight titlist Amir Khan. On April 24, 2010, Mariano Plotinsky came up short against the WBO light heavyweight beltholder, Jürgen Brähmer. On June 5, Foreman lost his strap to Miguel Cotto.

While Nakash's title opportunity fosters dreams of what could be, the concern is that Huck signifies an enormous step up for the Israeli boxer. Huck (31-1, 23 KOs) will be making his sixth title defense. The Ring ranks the Serbian-born champion as the second best cruiserweight in the world. Huck's sole loss was to the only man rated above him, Steve Cunningham. That loss took place in 2007. Huck has won twelve straight contests since, mostly against world class competition.

Nakash (25-0, 18 KOs) hasn't fought anyone nearly as good as Huck during his pro career. He also will suffer from a significant height disadvantage and is six years older than the 26 year old champion. But Nakash is a hellacious body puncher. Being the shorter man, he will have to get inside to do damage.

Nakash will be replacing veteran Giacobbe Fragomeni, Huck's originally scheduled opponent, who was cut during training. The match is scheduled for 12 rounds.