by Nino Celic | Sat. Aug 28, 2010

Following Marco Huck's impressive victory over Matt Godfrey last week, Sauerland is carefully considering his future options. Huck's next mandatory challenger is the dangerous Russian puncher Denis Lebedev, who earned his reputation by knocking out ex-champion Enzo Maccarinelli, as well as the highly touted prospect Alexander Alekseev. Huck could face Lebedev as early as December, if the cruiserweight Super Six gets put together earlier though, Huck's mandatory defense could get put on hold.

“Championship fights have a higher priority than mandatory defenses,” says Chris Meyer, CEO Sauerland. Huck, Wlodarczyk, Cunningham and Hernandez are all likely participants, and there may be a slot left for Lebedev and an American.

On the same evening as Huck-Godfrey, Berlin-based Finnish heavyweight prospect Robert Helenius won his first major title.

Helenius scored a TKO6 victory over unbeaten Frenchman Gregory Tony, and picked up the vacant European Union title, which should guarantee him a top 15 spot in at least one of the four major sanctioning
bodies. What he lacked in explosiveness and athleticism, Helenius made up for with good fundamentals and very heavy hands (as former Heavyweight Champion of the World Lamon Brewster can confirm). While it's too early to consider Helenius a major threat in the heavyweight division, the 26-year-old Helenius could become a major player in the post-Klitschko-era.

Two unbeaten Sauerland prospects; Karo Murat and Alexander Frenkel, have signed on for risky fights abroad on Sept. 18 at the LG Arena, in Birmingham, England. The Arthur Abraham-clone Murat (22-0,17 KO), will take on the unbeaten Welshman Nathan Cleverly The main event pits Frenkel (22-0, 17 KO) against Enzo Maccarinelli for the European Cruiserweight Championship. Both German fighters are slight underdogs with bookmakers.