Unbeaten middleweight Douglas “El Uno” Marroquin is a confident young man. A year or two ago, with just a few fights under his belt, he was already making spectacular ring entrances as if he was a world champion, with a mini-mariachi band and a seven-foot tall light up robot walking beside him as he made his way to the ring. “I am an entertainer by heart,” said Marroquin. “I entertain inside the ring and I entertain outside the ring. I try to put on a show for you guys, so that’s why I’m telling you guys, get your tickets right now, Saturday, October 3rd  in Hartford [Connecticut] is going to be great.” To purchase tickets, log onto CESFights.com.

 

After eleven pro wins, six by knockout, Marroquin is looking for another victory on Saturday at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, in a lead-up bout to the light heavyweight rematch between John Gotti III and Daniel Augare. While Marroquin plans to impress and put the “entire middleweight division on notice,” his opponent, Lasha Gurguliani, presents his stiffest test to date. While Marroquin’s previous opponents had a combined losing record of 35-43-4, Gurguliani’s ledger is a solid 20-6 with 9 KOs. In addition, Gurgiuliani was on a nine-bout unbeaten streak in traditional bouts before going on hiatus in 2022. However, he returned to the sport two years later to compete in Team Combat League (TCL), where boxers fight one-round bouts in a team format. 

  

“He’s been active,” said Marroquin. “People are underestimating him, thinking he’s not active [looking at his traditional record]. This guy is active. This guy is coming for me.” Gurguliani has only been fighting one round at a time the last couple of years but “you can never sleep on nobody,” said Marroquin He added, “You can never think anyone is going to be a walk in the park. You can’t. You can’t do that. I always take my fights seriously. I always take any fighter seriously, no matter how big, how tall, or how small. It doesn’t matter. Any fight, I’m going to be locked in. We’re going to do what we’ve got to do. I know he’s coming in hard. He’s coming to take everything I’ve been working for, everything I am working for, but we can not give him that opportunity, so I’ve been working my butt off.” 

 

Gurguliani hails from Mesita, Georgia, the country, not the state. His last defeat in a traditional bout was back in 2017, against then unbeaten Russian Khasan Baysangurov in Baysangurov’s home country. 

 

The 28-year-old Marroquin always look to impress every time he steps in the ring, but Gurguliani, age 35, is providing extra motivation. “I do believe this guy is coming to try to win, and that motivates me to go even harder and prove myself and demonstrate my skills to everybody else, who has not yet seen me, or who hasn’t paid attention,” said Marroquin. 

 

Marroquin expresses umbrage over the fact the Guatemalan boxing Commission hasn’t recognized him or acknowledged what he’s accomplished in his career thus far. “I am from Guatemala and Mexico,” said Marroquin. “Guatemala has not been wanting to give me my props. Saturday, I will earn them with hard work, sweat and dedication.” He added, “They’re promoting other fighters. I am on their radar but they’re not listening. I’m knocking on their door and they’re not listening. If they don’t open that door, we’re going to have to kick that door down.” 

 

He added the Guatemalan boxing commission has honored other fighters with titles and awards.“They just gave out some award to a fighter that has a lesser record than me,” said Marroquin, who lived in Guatemala between the ages of 9 and 16. “I’m all for representing Guatemala…but I’m kind of pissed off,” said Marroquin. “Because I’m over here putting in the work, I’m representing Guatemala, people know I’m from Guatemala. I’m also representing Mexico and Mexico’s doing a better job as far as the fans, the people, the love, showing support, but when it comes to Guatemala, they pick and choose who they want to help and who they don’t want to help.” 

 

An entertaining pressure fighter, a style in part due to his modest height for a middleweight, Marroquin cites Gennady Golovkin, Arturo Gatti, Miguel Cotto, Canelo Alvarez and Mike Tyson as fistic influences, guys he studies footage of. “But at the end of the day, I want to be my own fighter,” he said. “I don’t want to look like somebody else. I want to have my own style. I want to have my own persona, and that’s what I think we’re developing right now.”

 

Marroquin, who trains out of Wilner Mendez Boxing in Norwalk, added, “I’m blessed to be in a position where I’m able to grow. I’m surrounded by great people, a great team [his main trainers are Wilner Mendez and Chris Aldrich], I have people who believe in me, sponsors, my promoter, Mr. Jimmy Burchfield, who believes in me. It’s a blessing.”

 

As for Saturday’s ring walk, Marroquin won’t reveal if we’ll see the mini Mariachi band again, or the robot, or something his fans have never seen before.  “We don’t want to give out too many details, on what’s coming out, or how we’re doing the ring entrance,” said Marroquin. “But it is going to be electrifying. If you want to find out, buy a ticket.”