On Wednesday, just a few days ahead of her long awaited professional debut, Marianne ‘Golden Girl’ Marston received the news that her opponent, Aleksandra Jasjukevica, has pulled out of their fight this coming Saturday.
The bout was set to feature on Dave Murphy’s ‘Thunder & Lightning’ event, at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, which is headlined by the Chris Goodwin versus Oisin ‘Gael Force’ Fagan World Boxing Federation Inter-Continental Lightweight Title Clash.
On hearing of Marston’s dilemma her long time friend and sparring partner, Angel McKenzie, and World Boxing Federation European coordinator Olaf Schroeder both burned the midnight oil in a frantic effort to save the day for Marston, the exciting protégé of legendary Heavyweight Champion of the World Smokin’ Joe Frazier and two time IBF Cruiserweight Champion of the World Steve ‘USS’ Cunningham.
The race against the clock continued well into Thursday afternoon, when Schroeder called to confirm that he had located a replacement. After some swift negotiations all was well again and Marston’s fight was back on.
Speaking shortly after her final training session, under the watchful eyes of coach Barry Smith at the TRAD TKO Boxing Gym in London, Marston spoke briefly on the drama.
“My first thought when I heard Aleksandra had pulled out was, ‘oh no not again, will I ever actually get to fight’
My luck hasn’t been the greatest the past few years, each time I was due to fight previously fate decided otherwise.
All that fades into insignificance on Saturday, I will finally get to fight. I’ve trained for over six years for this, overcoming far too many major disappointments along the way, but now it will happen, which pleases me more than you could ever know.
More than anything else I am so pleased it will happen is, as I said last week, I am dedicating this fight to the memory of Joe Frazier, he was the first person to really believe in me as a boxer and even after his gym closed had always kept in touch, as he wanted to be at my first fight.
I don’t know anything about my new opponent, other than she has fought seven times, which is six times more than Aleksandra had. I don’t even know her name, which isn’t a bad thing as I’d be tempted to look her up on BoxRec and YouTube.
I can’t thank promoter Dave Murphy for giving me the opportunity to fight on his show, but more so I can’t thank Angel (McKenzie) enough for her help, she has been a great friend helping me out with sparring and of course trying to find me a replacement, also I can’t thank Olaf Schroeder enough for taking the time to find a replacement opponent at such short notice.
Now it’s down to me to put in a good performance on Saturday for my sponsors Optimax, Winkball and BoxFit, as well as repay those, especially Joe, that have shown so much faith in me over the years with a good win.”
Marianne Marston against a yet to be named opponent features on the undercard of Chris Goodwin versus Oisin ‘Gael Force’ Fagan WBF inter-Continental Lightweight Championship clash which headlines Dave Murphy’s Thunderdrome Promotions ‘Thunder & Lightning’ event at York Hall, Bethnal Green in London.
Tickets, priced £65 (Ringside), £35 (Floor) and £30 (Balcony) are available on-line at www.tkoboxoffice.com and www.mariannemarston.com or in person at the TRAD TKO Boxing Gym in Canning Town, London E16 4SA – www.tkoboxinggym.com – or the Ringtone Gym in Euston, London NW1 2PB – www.ringtonehealthandfitness.com – Tel: 07960 850645 or 07557 641597 for further information.
www.mariannemarston.com
