While all eyes are on Kell Brook in his return to the ring, Claudio 'The Matrix' Marrero remains affixed on stealing the show and dashing any hopes of Kid Galahad returning to the title picture anytime soon.
The veteran featherweight southpaw from Dominican Republic is brimming with confidence ahead of his showdown versus Galahad on the road Saturday evening in his opponent’s hometown of Sheffield, England. Their bout serves as the evening’s chief support to local hero Brook’s long-awaited ring return as he faces Mark DeLuca live on Sky Sports and DAZN-USA, along with the featherweight clash carrying title fight implications.
“I’m hungry, like always,” Marrero (24-3, 17KOs) noted during Thursday’s final pre-fight press conference.
"I'm up early in the morning every day to give it my all.”
This weekend’s adventure marks the first career fight outside of The Americas for Marrero, a former amateur standout in his native Dominican Republic who now trains in South Florida. The crafty southpaw—who turns 31 in March—remains in pursuit of his first major belt, having briefly held an interim version and with all three career losses coming at the title stage. A 12-round defeat to Jesus Cuellar thwarted his first attempt at calling himself champ, a distinction he earned—in an alphabet sense—with a 1st round knockout of Carlos Zambrana in their April 2017 interim featherweight title fight.
He has since suffered two defeats in his last four starts, including a 7th round stoppage to Jesus Rojas. Marrero looked impressive in a one-round drilling of then-unbeaten Jorge Lara in their April 2018 clash as well as in a 12-round nod over Eduardo Ramirez last June. Wedged in between is a hard-fought 12-round loss to Mongolia’s Tugstsogt Nyambayar, a 2012 Olympic Silver medalist in their World Boxing Council (WBC) title eliminator last January.
Saturday’s winner will be in position to challenge reigning International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight titlist Josh Warrington, which Galahad (26-1, 15KOs) has already done. Their June 2019 clash saw Warrington (30-0, 7KOs) barely prevail, with Galahad eager to secure a rematch and get it right the second time around.
Naturally, his opponent has a lot to say about that.
“Your fight record says it all. We respect you for what you are and what you've achieved but I'm just on a different level,” insists Marrero. “You're facing a storm you've never faced before.
“I am a big problem and on Saturday night we are gonna dance. You've got some big problems ahead of you, buddy.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox