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Florian Marco takes one of the biggest stakes in the British closed boxing era by fighting without his highly dedicated fans
Last year, the 28-year-old Albania welterweight one-handed sold out the iconic 1,200-seat York Hall in London, drawing 800 fans to O2 for four late afternoon stands, including two Fanatical foreign followers
Through a shared Balkan heritage, ex-MMA fighter decorated Premier League champion Xherdan Shaqiri was at the side of the ring on July night in Greenwich, a close friend of Arsenal superstar Granit Shaka, the bass 6-0 to keep fit alongside Arsenal and Switzerland midfielder
Sadly, no amazing support from Marku could be at BT Sport Studios Tuesday night to see him fight Muma Mweemba at Boxxer – formerly known as Ultimate Boxxer – as he risks his growing reputation without making surprise ticket sales
Marku told SunSport: “For UK fans, I’m new but in Albania, Greece, Austria and all over Europe, I have a lot of fans because I have played more than 100 boxing and martial arts matches, won three world titles and got 10 years without losing
“I sold around 800 tickets to the O2 show in July 2019, but I really know only 20 of them are friends and family The rest are fans that I may not have met before, I even got two men from Australia
“Xherdan Shaqiri is a friend of mine, one of the O2 people has been in my fights Granite Shaka and Shkroodan Mustafa are also friends of mine because the great thing for us Albanians is that we keep in touch with each other all over the world
Shaka and Shakiri both play soccer for Switzerland after their parents fled the war-torn region in search of safety there a decade ago, just like Marco
The three have a strong bond that Marco says is typical of a nation that rebuilds and won’t even betray any training secrets about his gym teammate Xhaka
“I cannot say who is stronger, I don’t want to say, we are friends and he is a very good man!
“I’m not really a fan of football, I just go and watch their matches when they invite me
“A lot of Albanians came here and couldn’t go home, so when they see someone from their country, they really want to support that guy.
“In Albania and Kosovo, we saw very bad wars and everything was in real chaos, things have been quiet for the past 10 years but we are still poor provinces
“Things are getting better all the time but we still produce very strong men because of what our fathers and grandparents have been through.
Marco moved to Greece at the age of four, when the Albanian government collapsed and his father was tired of seeing abandoned rifles readily available on the streets
There he started his fighting career before clinching many titles, WKU gold in kickboxing his favorite title, then went on the path of fights in Austria before reaching the UK and turning into a professional boxer last year
After packing the iconic Bethnal Green Stadium, Frank Warren picked it up to win the illustrious Daniel Dubois heavyweight title over Nathan Gorman, and stopped Tommy Broadbent in the final round
Boxxer has discovered his potential and this week will be his third battle for the renamed and growing UK promotion Marku wants to be a star for
He said, “I don’t want to fight the nomads, if I am good then I will prove it and if not I will go home and do something else
“Luan Krasnicki was the greatest Albanian boxer of all time so far, he surrounded Lamont Brewster, who defeated Vladimir Klitschko and beat Julius Francis of England
« But we never had a world champion. I think this is going to be me showing Boxxer on TV and I think it will help me on my way to achieving my dream »
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Boxing, Florian Marco
World News – GB – Albanian boxing sensation that aims to spark the excitement of Prem fans in Ultimate Boxxer 5
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