Fadi Merza:

“Now I want to get into the ring against Marcos”

Fadi Merza won his comeback fight at the Bounce Fight Night (right). He posed for a photo with his buddy Marcos Nader in the krone.tv studio just before the fight - will they soon face each other in the ring?

(Bild: Christopher Blank, Mario Urbantschitsch)

Successful boxing premiere for martial artist Fadi Merza. His victory on Saturday at Bounce Fight Night was followed by an invitation to Marcos Nader to step into the ring.

Before the fight at Bounce Fight Night on Saturday, Fadi Merza lit a candle in the church. On Sunday after the fight, he went to church again. For the first time as the winner of a classic boxing match.

"A hard piece of work"
"That was a hard piece of work," the 46-year-old puffed through his chest. He was world champion as a Thai boxer and was now back in the ring after a ten-year break, making his boxing debut. And climbed out of the ring after six rounds as a unanimous points winner against Bosnian Kenan Catic, who is 20 years his junior.

(Bild: Christopher Blank)

"Six rounds was also new to me. In Thai boxing, you have a maximum of five rounds. But I was very well prepared in terms of fitness and I was relaxed." Impressive at the age of 46 and after ten years without a fight.

Fadi's son Michel was not yet born when his father was last in the ring. He watched the fight on Saturday with his mother Ines at home in front of the TV. "We had actually agreed that he shouldn't watch it, because something can always happen. But he called me straight after the fight and told me how proud he was of me because I had won. I was on the verge of tears."

Fight against Nader?
Now Merza wants more: "Now I want to get into the ring against Marcos Nader." The Bounce Night organizer wants to give his farewell fight in November. Fadi is ready as an opponent.

However, during a visit to the krone.tv studio at the end of last week, Nader revealed that he still needs a bit of training to get into ring shape:

Kostakova is world champion
Michaela Kotaskova also had reason to celebrate. The 32-year-old bounce boxer won the WBF welterweight world title against Argentina's Erica Alvarez and remains undefeated after eight professional fights.

Wesner loses
On the other hand, Nicole Wesner, a German living in Vienna, had to relinquish her lightweight title. She lost on points against the Serbian Nina Pavlovic.

A rematch, in which she would like to regain the lost title, has already been arranged.