At the Utilita Arena in Newcastle, ‘The Albanian King’ Florian Marku (11-0-1, 7 KOs) successfully defended his IBF International welterweight title in his toughest test to date against the former British and Commonwealth titlist Chris Jenkins (23-5-3, 8 KOs).
Lasting just four rounds, the fiery Albanian landed a big right hand that rocked Jenkins heavily with the referee stepping in soon after.
Marku did seem to struggle at times with Jenkins and was often outboxed, Jenkins established his jab early in the fight and relied on the punch to disrupt Marku’s flow throughout the length of the fight.
The victory establishes itself as the best in Marku’s relatively short career with a fight against fellow BOXXER fighter Chris Kongo (13-1, 7 KOs) just around the corner.
However, Marku has no interest in Kongo and wants much bigger game.
“Please, don’t mention these kinds of names [like Kongo] because when I was on my way up, these people were avoiding me,” Marku said to Sky Sports.
“Now I’m making a lot of noise, a lot of good wins, all the people start calling me out. Listen, I want the son of Nigel Benn [Conor Benn], Kell Brook, Amir Khan – give me these type of men and you will see how I fight with them. Don’t mention anyone else, give me one of them and you’ll see what I can do.
“I’m still learning, don’t forget I’m only three years in the boxing game and Chris won the British title and many people avoid. But listen, give me Amir Khan next – I’m going to break him.”
Promoter Ben Shalom of Boxxer has a lot of interest in making the Marku vs. Khan encounter. If Khan were to win such a fight, then Shalom would consider making the rematch with fellow former world champion Kell Brook.