Marco Hook

Marko Huk, a native of a Bosnian family, lived in the community of Novi Pazar, Raska region, Serbia until the age of seven. In 1993, he moved with his family from Yugoslavia to Germany, where he lived in the city of Bielefeld in a social coordination center. Marco grew up in a poor family. He has an older sister and two younger ones. In August 2009, he received German citizenship.Hook had a career in kickboxing before boxing and trained with Ralph Schmidt at the Bielefeld Sports Palace. At the age of 16, he became the European kickboxing champion, and at the age of 18, he became the youngest kickboxing world champion among German teams.Marko made his debut in the professional boxing ring on November 7, 2004, immediately in the first heavyweight division. He had 10 fights in a row, which he won by knockout. In the 11th fight, he won on points against the experienced German Rediger Me (40-4-3)

On December 16, 2006, he became the EBU champion, defeating Italian Pietro Aurino in the second round. Aurino broke the rules, and then he left the ring. He was disqualified, but later the result was changed to a technical defeat by knockout.

In January 2007, he defended the title against Belgian Ismail Abdul.In 2007 in the eliminator (single-elimination tournament) IBF defeated undefeated Russian boxer Vadim Tokarev (23-0).He entered the ring for the IBF World Champion title with the champion, American Steve Cunningham. The challenger started the fight very actively and had a noticeable advantage in the first two rounds. From the third three minutes, quick combinations of blows allowed the champion to level the course of the battle somewhat, but Hook often managed to lock him at the ropes with his attacks. In the seventh round, the German boxer started bleeding from his ear and, plus, he began to get noticeably tired, which allowed Cunningham to seize the initiative. In the eleventh round, Hook threw all his strength into the attack and had the advantage, but failed to finish the fight ahead of schedule. In the last round, the champion inflicted a heavy uppercut that shocked his opponent, he rushed to finish off, and the angle of the Hook decided to stop the fight by throwing in the towel (AP Photo/Martin Meissner). This was the first defeat of a Bosnian German. Marco was only 23 years old.After the defeat, the level of the opponents only began to grow, and Marko began to go up against boxers who either did not lose at all, or had not lost for a long time. So, in 2008 he defeated Frantesik Kasanik (12-2), Jean-Marc Monroe (24-1), Fabio Tuiacha (22-1), undefeated Joferri Batello (18-0) and undefeated Vitaly Russol (23-0).On August 29, 2009, Marco entered the ring with the current WBO world champion Victor Emilio Ramirez. The fight came out quite sharp, with a lot of attacks. Due to the higher speed and counterattacks, Hook dominated most rounds. At the end of 12 rounds, Marco Hook won by unanimous decision.

In December 2009, Hook met the mandatory challenger, British boxer Ola Afolabi, in the first title defense. The fight was competitive, but the Hook with a slight advantage defeated the Briton on points. In March 2010, Marco defended the title of champion for the second time, knocking out American Adam Richards in the 3rd round. Then he defeated the American Brian Minto. In August 2010, he knocked out another American, Matt Godfrey (20-1). In December 2010, Marco Hook met the mandatory challenger, undefeated Russian boxer Denis Lebedev.On December 18, 2010, in the fifth title defense, Hook came out against Russian Denis Lebedev. In the Berlin ring, the Russian acted as the first number and led the fight with a slight advantage, although Marco Hook had more "clean" blows. The fight turned out to be quite competitive and assertive on the part of both boxers. The American judge scored 116-112 in favor of Lebedev, and the other two - 115-113 in favor of the German. Hook defended his title, although many experts and viewers, including the Germans, categorically disagreed with the referee's decision, calling it a robbery.After a controversial victory over Lebedev, in April 2011, Hook confidently defeated the undefeated Israeli Rana Nakash (25-0) on points. Then in June he knocked out the Argentine Hugo Guernan Gray, and in October 2011, in the eighth title defense, he knocked out another Argentine, Rogelio Omar Rossi, in the 10th round. After another victory, Hook decided to switch to heavyweight. The negotiations did not last long, and quite quickly a worthy opponent was found, the regular WBA world champion, Alexander Povetkin.On February 25, 2012, Marco Hook entered the ring with the regular WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin. The fight took place in the heavyweight division, and only Povetkin's title was at stake. The fight did not immediately begin actively, but in the second round Povetkin began to act a little more confidently. In the fourth round, the course of the fight changed: the hook carried out several precise blows that shocked the champion. The same thing happened in the seventh round. In the last rounds, Povetkin began to act a little brighter, but the fatigue that appeared in the first third of the fight affected him. Alexander was constantly bending over during Marco Hook's attacks, so he repeatedly received blows to the back of the head from the enemy. By the championship rounds, Hook had a cut above his right eye, but this did not affect the course of the fight. Povetkin struck more blows, but the total number of bright attacks and accurate hits was on the side of the German. Following the results of 12 rounds by the decision of the majority of judges, the victory was awarded to the Russian. After the fight, many expressed disagreement with this decision, seeing a draw or even a victory of Hook in the fight. Both boxers expressed a desire to fight again.After a controversial defeat by Povetkin, Hook returned to the first heavyweight to defend his title. I met again with the Englishman Ola Afolabi, who, like last time, earned himself the title of mandatory challenger and held the title of interim champion. The fight took place on May 5, 2012.

The fight turned out to be very competitive, as in the first fight, but this time the Briton was more active and confident in his actions. This did not allow Hook to outplay Afolabi. The fight took place in a very difficult struggle with a large exchange of blows. But despite this, there were no knockdowns. The duel ended without determining the winner. Most of the judges put up a draw, which did not rule out a third fight between the boxers in the future.

In November, in a voluntary title defense, Marco Hook entered the ring with a lefty, Firat Arslan. In the first round, Hook acted as the second number, and Arslan was more active. In the second round, Arslan's activity increased, and towards the end of the round, Hook's nose bled. In the third round Firat put even more pressure on Marko. At the end of the round, Hook made a series of punches, but mostly it came in defense of Arslan. The fourth round was again left to the challenger. In the fifth round, 42-year-old Arslan looked quite cheerful and confident, and Hook's face was bruised, he was exhausted and tired. In the 7th round, Hook tried to attack, but all his blows came in defense of the experienced Arslan. The 8th round was more equal, and Firat slightly slowed down the pace. In the 10th round, Arslan, as in the previous rounds, entered the melee and blocked all the attacks of the champion. At the end of the 11th round, Hook tried to land a long series of punches, but Arslan got out of position again, and he was already striking the last blows before the gong. In the final round, Hook desperately began to attack, but Arslan still went ahead until the final gong. Firat was more convincing in almost all rounds. After the end of the fight, he raised his arms victoriously, and his face was without bruises and cuts. The exhausted Hook also raised his hands, and the audience began to whistle. But after the announcement of the results, the whole hall was shocked, as the victory was awarded to Hook. Marco Hook won ingloriously, but Firat Arslan grew in the eyes of the fans