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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Huck-Nakash, Questionable Decision?

Ran Nakash challenged Marco Huck for the latter's WBO cruiserweight belt this past Saturday in Halle, Germany. Nakash lost by unanimous decision. Two American judges, Robert Hoyle and Roark Young, scored the bout 118-110 (ten rounds to two) in favor of Huck. The Swedish judge, Mikael Hook, scored the contest 116-112.

The 116-112 mark is a hometown score- Huck fights out of Germany- but it is not egregiously out of line with what happened in the fight. The two 118-110 scores are, to try and put it tactfully, bizarre. Tim Starks of The Queensberry Rules, saw the bout as a draw. Starks writes, "I scored Huck's fight with Ran Nakash a draw, and some had Nakash winning. Two judges scored it 118-110 for Huck, which smacks of extreme German bias... I gave Nakash six of the first seven rounds but no others; Huck eventually started working and Nakash slowed down."

Fans have written in also questioning the decision. They agree with Starks's take on the fight, arguing for a draw. It would be difficult to award Huck more than the fifth round out of the first seven. But to grant him five of the first seven, as two judges did, is not an accurate depiction of the fight that took place last Saturday. Nakash constantly came forward and was busy during the first seven rounds. He rocked Huck on a few occasions. Meanwhile, Huck was content to cover up. Huck appeared to win each of the final five rounds by utilizing his uppercut as Nakash became tired.

The judges' scores tarnished an otherwise competitive and fairly entertaining fight. Nakash fell to 25-1 with 18 KOs, while Huck rose to 32-1 with 23 KOs.

4 comments:

  1. I noticed punch stats-I forget the round-once,in the first half of the fight;the stats showed that Nakash threw more-and landed a higher percentage of shots.I didn't notice any stats shown in the second half of the fight,but Nakash-I thought-"seemed" to still have the edge.If I watch the fight again,I might score the fight 10-2 for Nakash.

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  2. It was through the first four rounds that they showed Nakash having the edge. Stats weren't shown afterwards. But Huck did seem to throw the harder shots, at least in the last five rounds. A draw still seems like it would have been a fair result. If he got a draw, Ran's prospects, and the respect he would've garnered, would have improved greatly compared to a UD loss though. It's a shame.

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  3. Well...on the respect factor,it's pretty clear
    Nakash had to kayo Huck to get a draw;fortunately he didn't have to deal with a crowd like Salita had to deal with in England,but even weird scoring in Vegas seems kosher compared to this.If Nakash had to lose,obviously it shouldn't have been by more than a couple of points.As far as his prospects are concerned..I think he'll be regarded as easily avoidable.

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  4. Also PS: Today's Benny Leonard's 115th birthday..

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