Tonight, in Manchester, on the Liam Smith-Chris Eubank Jr return, unbeaten welterweight contender Florian Marku swiftly took out fellow southpaw Dylan Moran, thus putting to bed the heated rivalry the two had engaged in in the week before tonight’s fight. London-based Albanian Marku, who was having his first fight in a little over a year, blasted Ireland’s Moran with a series of fast blows that rocked Moran, forcing the referee to dive in.
A promising fight instead turned into a blow-out, the fight all over after just :54 seconds. Marku is now 13-0-1(8), while Moran falls to 18-2(8).
Things got heated between these two in the run-up to the fight, with Moran shoving Marku at the official weigh-in. But tonight, in the only place that matters, the ring, Marku ended any possibility of a long-term rivalry. Marku, the shorter man, hurt Moran with a left hand to the head, and then a follow-up barrage crashed in from Marku, the final right hook forcing the third man to call it off.
Marku would have been excused for being delighted with his short and sweet night’s work, but he instead took the opportunity to scream how he is being avoided by the big-name 147 pounders out there. A pumped-up Marku took to the microphone to demand a big fight next.
“I want these big fights, but people keep avoiding me,” Marku bellowed. “Ben [Shalom, promoter and head of BOXXER], bring me Josh Taylor, Conor Benn, Kell Brook……I don’t know who else you have [in your stable] but bring me someone that can show what I can do. I have two hands and thank God; I can show what I can do.”
Whether or not Shalom or anyone else can get Marku the kind of big fight he has demanded remains to be seen. But based on tonight’s red-hot, dynamic showing, Marku will have added to the number of fans who, like him, wish to see the 30 year old get in the ring with a household name.