by Tamas Pradarics

Oleksandr Usyk and Marco Huck are scheduled to kick-off the highly anticipated World Boxing Super Series tournament this Saturday, September 9 at the Max Schmeling Halle in Berlin, Germany. The cruiserweights are square off for Usyk’s WBO title. The brown belt is well known for veteran Huck who has previously owned the title and defended it a record-tying thirteen times between 2009 and 2015.

Huck (40-4-1, 27 KOs) is, by far the most accomplished of the eight practitioners in the tournament, though, some believed he has been chosen by Usyk (12-0, 10 KOs) as an opponent during the Draft Gala back in July in Monaco because he is clearly over the hill. The single elimination tournament has four seeded champions who have picked opponents of four unseeded boxers for the first round. The winners are going to face each other to decide who will enter the finals.

So, was it a tactical decision by Usyk to pick somebody he is heavily favored against to make it to the next round?

“Usyk based his choice on the fans’ expectations. He has over 50k followers on his Instagram account. He announced a short survey on the eve of the draw. Over 70 percent voted for Huck, that’s how he made his choice. Fortunately, Usyk’s and the fans’ choice coincided with my personal preferences also,” said Alexander Krassyuk, promoter of the former Olympic gold medalist Ukranian pugilist to BoxingScene.com.

“I do consider Marco Huck to be the best opponent for the kick-off as he is the most experienced, most titled and most recognized contender in the WBSS. He will be the toughest test for Usyk in his career.”

Oleksandr had the privilege to select opponent first during the drawing ceremony. The second seeded participant has been IBF champ Murat Gassiev, the third has been WBC belt holder Mairis Briedis while the fourth has become WBA regular titlist Yunier Dorticos. The winner of the first matchup has to face the winner of the third one while the second is scheduled to face with the fourth. That is, the two highest rated fighters in the tournament, Usyk, and Gassiev could only collide in the finals.

This means Usyk would have to face the winner of the Briedis vs Mike Perez fight in the second round, were his hands raised this coming Saturday. Krassyuk, who is the General Director of K2 Promotions’ Ukrainian section, described Oleksandr’s next possible opponent in the tournament and made sure he does not think his fighter has an easy way en route to the finals.

“My favorite in this fight is reigning WBC champ Mairis Briedis, who I consider one of the most serious opponents for Usyk. Mairis is skilled, experienced, brave hearted and hungry for fame and recognition. He took a fight with Manuel Charr in heavyweight, went to Chechnya where Charr was the ‘home’ fighter, he knocked out Danny Venter, who Usyk named one of his most dangerous opponents, he stopped Durodola and outboxed Marco Huck in Germany. This is definitely not the easiest way to qualify for the finals.”

You can reach Tamas Pradarics at pradaricst@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @TomiPradarics.