Marcus: “Cowardly Artem Levin was afraid to fight me”

World middleweight title challenger Simon 'Bad Bwoy' Marcus (42-2-2, 24 KO's) has slammed Russian champion Artem 'The Lion' Levin (50-4-2, 33 KO's) ahead of their GLORY 27 CHICAGO rematch.

The Canadian-Jamaican first fought Levin at GLORY 21 SAN DIEGO last year. The fight went five rounds and ended in a draw, which resulted in Levin retaining the title.

But Levin was docked one point during the fight for excessive clinching and Marcus also feels he should have been docked a second point later in the fight. Had he been docked a second point, the result would have gone Marcus' way and he would now be the world champion.

“At that moment in time it was more than just anger but a mix of emotions. Although I wanted to be professional I had no choice but to keep it real in that moment,” Marcus says of his infamous post-fight speech (“Bullshit! I won that fight!”)

“I was angry, along with the majority of the people in the stadium who witnessed the fight, that I wasn't being awarded the win after I had dominated an opponent who was using cowardly tactics to stall the action.

“I was a bit stirred up for about half an hour and didn't feel like talking much but everybody in the stadium kept telling me to hold my head up [and that really] I won. Soon after the feelings of anger and disappointment subsided, because I realized that regardless of the judges' decision I felt in my heart I won and that is the most important thing to me.

“I did exactly what I set out to do which was win my fight and prove I am the best fighter in the world in Muay Thai or kickboxing. So I was thankful for that. I would rather not be awarded the belt and know in my heart I am the world champion than to receive the belt knowing otherwise. As my Dad said to me afterwards, 'You are the people's champion.'”

Marcus says he didn't feel any frustration during the fight itself “because I knew thats what levin was going to do. That's what he always does. He tries to hit you and then tie you up to stall the fight and make it appear he's in control.

“The frustration was that he was actually rewarded for this kind of cowardly fighting. Levin said that our first bout [under Muay Thai rules] was not a real victory for me because it was all clinch and that now he would show me who the best is in GLORY rules setting. Then he proceeded to spend five rounds holding on to me for dear life. So like I said before, that was all loser talk.”

GLORY 21 took place in May last year, just four weeks after Marcus won the Middleweight Contender Tournament at GLORY 20 DUBAI with two back-to-back victories in one night. Marcus was still relatively new to kickboxing rules at that point, having spent his career in Muay Thai prior, and was also carrying some injuries from Dubai into the San Diego fight.

Thus, he feels that this rematch in Chicago is now weighted in his favor. He has had more time to train for fighting under kickboxing rules and he also believes he has Levin's number, mentally and tactically.

“Levin didn't show me s--t except that, one, he is afraid to fight me and two, the tactics he tries to use to beat everybody else are useless against a fighter of my caliber. It was shameful that he jumped for joy for a majority draw decision, he knew he would keep the belt by default. A true champion would never celebrate a draw in that manner if he really felt he won. levin is no champion to me just a poppy show*. He's a number 2, a runner up.

“Levin will try to come up with a game plan as he's tried to do in the past but when faced with a man who is more skilled and much stronger than he is he panics and has to resort to holding. This is what most fighters do when they don't want to engage in a fight.

“He should change his name from 'The Lion' to 'The Feline'... Make sure you watch the fight Feb 26th and you will see what I will do to deal with his holding.”

GLORY 27 CHICAGO takes place Friday, February 27 at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates, Chicago, Illinois. The middleweight title fight headlines the card, which airs live in the US on ESPN 3.

[*Jamaican slang, a corruption of the term “puppet show”. It is used as a term of ridicule and implies that the subject is not what they say there are, and/or not capable of handling their business.]