Super middleweight prospect Moreno Fendero found the missing piece to his career when he won a bronze medal at the 2023 IBA World Championships. Since that performance, things have come together.
Fendero faces Mykola Vovk in an eight-round bout on Thursday night at the Montreal Casino in Montreal, Quebec.
Fendero, 9-0 (7 KOs), is the latest big puncher to emerge out of Marc Ramsay’s gym. Fighters like Artur Beterbiev, Christian M’Billi, and David Lemieux have all trained with Ramsay and have made a name for themselves. Yet, it was a performance at an international amateur tournament that caught his trainer’s eye. 
“Marc reached out to me about a year before the championship,” Fendero told BoxingScene via a translator. “We talked for a bit, but he thought I was too young to turn pro.”
It all changed when he competed in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Inevitably, Fendero would lose to Yoenli Hernandez, a promising professional up-and-comer in his own right, but he proved he belonged. 
“Right after my bronze medal championship performance, Marc reached back out and said that he thought I could go pro.’”
Fendero, 25, responded five minutes later telling Ramsay that he was coming to Montreal. Though many look at Ramsay’s fighters as punchers, Fendero from first-hand experience points out that he teaches craft as well as building the strength his fighters are known for.
“Guys who work with Marc Ramsay usually have power and strength, a trademark of the gym, but they can also do more,” Fendero said. “He trains fighters to be complete boxers.”
Before settling on boxing as a career, Fendero wanted to be a firefighter, but the studying and demands to become one were daunting for him. He opted to join the French Army, which is where he earned the ring name “Soldier.” Fendero credits the discipline he learned from military service with making him stand out among his peers. “It is the work I put in the gym and the lifestyle I live outside of the gym,” Fendero said.
For this fight, Fendero will face Vovk, 15-6 (9 KOs), who is on a three-fight losing streak. Vovk, a 34-year-old Romanian, has only been stopped twice in his career, with the last time occurring in 2019. He returned to boxing in 2024 and has fought twice. Fendero, who enters on a three-fight knockout streak, explained what has led to his success as a power puncher ahead of his latest bout.
“Yes, I am a big puncher, but I also have beautiful boxing,” Fendero said. “It is because of my beautiful boxing that I can knock the guys out.”

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.