Rep for Wladimir Klitschko scoffs at $6.5 million offer from Marco Huck

Marco Huck (above) is stepping up his efforts in an ongoing campaign for a shot at reigning heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. (AP)

For the past few months, cruiserweight titleholder Marco Huck -- who lost a competitive decision to Alexander Povetkin in February -- has been campaigning for a shot at unified heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. On Thursday, Huck’s promoter, Sauerland Event, upped the ante, issuing a press release offering Klitschko five million Euros -- roughly $6.5 million -- for the fight.

"Bernd Boente, Klitschko's manager, has been talking to Marco directly about the possibility of fighting Klitschko,” promoter Kalle Sauerland said. “Now we have used the official channels to approach them with an offer. Of course, we are now expecting them to come up with a counter-offer. We are always willing to hold personal talks to discuss the terms for such a fight. Then we will see if they will actually put their money where their mouth is. We definitely want to make this fight happen."

According to Sauerland, if Huck (34-2), who will defend his title against Firat Arslan on Saturday, wins, he wants Klitschko to be his next opponent.

In a telephone interview with SI.com, Boente scoffed at the offer.

“The offer was ridiculous,” Boente said. “The offer to us would be a buyout. We would give up all rights. We have an exclusive deal with [European network] RTL to broadcast all Klitschko fights. They work with ARD. We have been working with RTL since 2006. It doesn’t matter if the offer was $100 million. We cannot breach that contract. They know that.”

“[Sauerland] always does these things before a Huck fight because they know no one is interested in a Huck fight. They are trying to use the Klitschko’s for p.r. It was not a serious offer.”

-- Chris Mannix