• Cruiserweight

Afolabi holds world title dream

Ola Afolabi found Marco Huck too strong © AP

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Cruiserweight contender Ola Afolabi isn't giving up on his dream of winning a world title in the wake of his June 8 loss to Marco Huck.

Afolabi and Huck fought three times in all, with Huck going 2-0-1 in three excellent fights. Last year's rematch, one of the best fights of 2012, ended in a draw. The third bout was another really good fight, but Afolabi, who had been the interim titlist, just couldn't get over the hump and lost on scores of 117-111, 115-113, 114-114 in a majority decision.

Afolabi, who is from England but lives in Southern California, is putting the Huck trilogy behind him.

"I congratulate Marco, he fought a very good fight," Afolabi said. "This is the third time we've fought, so I'm ready to move on to other challenges. I'll be back in the gym shortly, fully focused on fighting my way back into world title contention."

Although Afolabi couldn't come up with a win, he made a lot of fans because of the spirited efforts he gave against Huck. He spent some time last week making the rounds in England with appearances on Sky Sports and BoxNation.

While Afolabi (19-3-4, 9 KOs), 33, takes a break, K2 Promotions managing director Tom Loeffler will work on plans for his next bout.

"Ola and Marco have very different styles, but are very similar in talent so that every time they fight it is always an exciting and close battle," Loeffler said. "Ola and I have spoken and we're going to work hard towards getting him back for another title shot in the near future. He was in excellent shape for this bout and we believe he will still accomplish his goal of being a world champion."

Germany's Huck (36-2-1, 25 KOs), meantime, is moving on to his 12th title defence, a September 14 rematch with former titlist Firat Arslan (33-6-2, 21 KOs). In Huck's fight prior to the third bout with Afolabi, he outpointed Arslan in a highly competitive, action-packed fight in November.

This article first appeared on ESPN.com

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