Boxing’s ‘Albanian King’ Florian Marku is a man on a mission

He spoke to Furyjoshua.com about his career so far, and what is yet to come.

Trained by Don Charles and managed by S-JAM Boxing, the 28-year-old ‘Albanian King’ has been particularly vocal recently on the subject of fellow London welter Conor Benn.

Benn made a huge statement when he stopped Samuel Vargas inside a round last weekend and had pundits purring about is potential in the aftermath. The son of Nigel Benn, Conor has seen doors open for him due to his family ties with the legendary ‘Dark Destroyer’, though in his defence he has taken every opportunity which has been presented to this point.

Marku (8-0-1) though has not had any doors opened for him due to famous relations. Yet he’s happy to smash those doors down instead and fight the best men at 147lbs both in Britain and globally.

Marku on Benn

When we caught up recently with the classy southpaw, Marku wasn’t in the mood to heap praise on Benn, saying coldly: “He has a glass chin. When I hit him one time is good night”.

Both men fight under the Matchroom banner, and it’s a fight Marku craves to show the world just what he is all about.

Always in shape and with an unrelenting work ethic, Marku is more aware than most of the old fighting truism that hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

His exciting win on Sky in February against fellow unbeaten Rylan Charlton got the boxing world talking and earned him a legion of new followers.

What many won’t be aware of is that he is a former kickboxing prodigy who has also mixed it in MMA. While fully focused on the noble art these days he says of his past: “Yes, I had 110 kickboxing fights. I won the world title four times and after that, I turned to MMA. I had seven fights in that, all wins by knockouts and stoppages.”

After turning professional as a boxer in December 2018, Marku had won all seven of his pro contests in impressive style before a controversial draw with Jamie Stewart. Ref Marcus McDonnell’s scoring of that fight (76-76) in December last year was a legitimate contender for worst scorecard of 2020.

The Albanian seemingly controlled the action and dropped Stewart early on. He looked for all the world to be a deserving winner but somehow had to settle for a draw and memorably let his feelings be known when he deadpanned “Are you joking?” when asked about the decision live on Sky afterwards.

However, he came through that particular bump in the road by bouncing back in fine style and recording a vicious TKO win over Charlton in February, going to war with his Norwich opponent before overpowering him in the eighth.

When asked whether that was his biggest ever win yet, he answered with honesty as he said: “No I don’t think so. I had some big wins back when I was kickboxing, but for my boxing career yes this was my biggest win.”

Marku has made great progress as a pro and it is a genuine shame that the global pandemic came about when it did as he was doing some serious numbers in terms of tickets.

He sold out the historic York Hall in Bethnal Green virtually on his own for his UK debut, and then took nearly 1000 fans to The O2 for his fourth fight against Tommy Broadbent in July of 2019.

Florian a fan favourite

He is wildly popular with Albanian expats who live in the capital and due to his humour and willingness to engage with fans on social media, his popularity continues to grow. Explaining the meteoric rise in his own Twitter following, the man himself explained: “Yes of course I love the British fans because they love boxing, and I’m happy that people start knowing me and recognising me here.”

Marku is an instinctive fighter who has legit power in both hands. Six of his eight wins have come early and when asked about his best attribute he quickly replied: “I think my power and my speed. My speed is real.”

The power and speed proved too much as he pounded Charlton into submission live on Sky last time out and the Albanian King insists his team have some exciting news in the pipeline in terms of his next outing.

Despite his obvious confidence, there is a humble quality to Marku and when pressed about who he would like next. He said simply, “I will honestly fight anyone that my team chooses for me. I want good opponents with good records.” When pressed whether that might be Conor Benn he said simply said “Let’s see. I have my own journey to the top.”

Fury vs Joshua a true 50-50 scrap

Despite being a pro for less than three years Marku is a big boxing fan and is hopeful, like the rest of the boxing cognoscenti, that Tyson Fury v Anthony Joshua can be finalised soon. When pressed as to how he feels that particular fight plays out he gave his answer some thought before saying “This is a true 50-50 fight for me. The biggest fight for the last 10 years or more. Could honestly go either way.”

Fury and Joshua are two big characters with two very different fighting styles. Yet Marku has a very clear opinion on what WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight boss Joshua needs to do to claim victory against ‘The Gypsy King.’

“Fury is very slick and smart. Honestly, thinking about the fight, I think for Joshua to win he must pressure a lot inside.”

We wrapped up the interview by asking if, as expected, the heavyweight unification fight gets a date and a venue confirmed soon and there was a chance to box on the undercard, how quickly he would be on that plane?

The ever-optimistic Albanian laughed before saying, “Yes I think that is possible. My team are working on this and let’s see - maybe I’m on the undercard for a title.”