German WBO boxing champion Marco Huck (L) lands one at German challenger Firat Arslan during their WBO cruiserweight bout in Stuttgart Saturday. — AFP

BERLIN — Germany’s Marco Huck defended his WBO cruiserweight belt with a sixth round knock-out of challenger Firat Arslan in Saturday’s rematch in Stuttgart.



The 29-year-old Huck put the challenger down twice in the sixth round with a furious onslaught of punches, but both times the 43-year-old struggled back to his feet.



Referee Mark Nelson stepped in to put Arslan out of his misery with 1 minute, 56 seconds of the round remaining.



“I want to thank Arslan for a really hard fight, respect to the guy who is in such good shape at the age of 43,” said Huck.



Having already controversially beaten Germany’s Arslan on points on their previous November 2012 meeting, Huck took control of the fight from the fourth round onwards.



This was the 26th knock-out and 37th win of Huck’s career and the 12th defense of the title he won in 2009.

Arslan, a former WBA cruiserweight world champion, suffered the eighth defeat of his career but immediately ruled out retirement.



Huck has said he now wants to become a world heavyweight champion, having already lost to Russia’s Alexander Povetkin at the heavier division in February 2012.



On the Huck-Arslan undercard, Britain’s David Price enjoyed a first-round knockout of Istvan Ruzsinszky.



Peterson retains IBF jr title



Lamont Peterson retained the IBF junior welterweight title Saturday night, unanimously outpointing previously undefeated Dierry Jean in front of a hometown crowd at the DC Armory in Washington.



Peterson (32-2-1) rebounded from a third-round TKO loss to Argentina’s Lucas Matthysse in a non-title fight in May in Atlantic City, New Jersey.



Jean, from Montreal, dropped to 25-1.



Peterson, who turned 30 on Friday, won by scores of 118-111, 116-112, and 115-113.



Garcia outpoints Burgos



Mikey Garcia retained the WBO junior lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Juan Carlos Burgos on Saturday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.



Garcia (34-0) failed to record a knockout for the sixth time as a professional in a fight that had many booing the lack of action. He was able to consistently block most of the punches thrown by Burgos (30-2-2) and won for the second time in the 130-pound division by scores of 119-109, 118-110 and 118-110.



Garcia fought at the same venue where he won his first championship last January when he won a decision from Orlando Salido for the WBO featherweight title.



Henderson edges Thomson

Former lightweight champion Benson Henderson won a disputed split decision over Josh Thomson in a lightweight fight at UFC Chicago Saturday.



Henderson (20-3) received winning scores of 48-47 and 49-46, and the other judge scored it 48-47 for Thomson (20-6). The announcement drew boos from the United Center crowd.



Thomson and Henderson have been major players in the MMA lightweight division throughout their careers, but Saturday night was the first time they had squared off. — Agencies