By Marlon Munroe
A few sparks flew to usher in the inaugural Pro/Am ‘Friday Night Fights’ boxing card at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) on Friday night.
The judges’ tasks were clear cut as the winners convincingly dispatched their opponents.
Former bantamweight champion Dexter Marques, in a technical showpiece, triumphed over incessant rusher Orlon ‘Pocket Rocket’ Rogers while Troy Lewis proved too much for Rudolph Fraser who was stopped 1:20s in the first frame.
The heavyweight bout between Pauline London and ‘Agricola Boom’ Shelly Gibson was the first professional fight and it appears as if London has Gibson’s number on speed dial. London prevailed with a second split-decision win over Gibson in as many bouts.
The feature matchup between two of Guyana’s rising super middleweight fighters Kwesi Jones and Edmond De Clou, lacked the technical savvy of their first encounter last year.
However, this time around there was no split decision but rather a bloodied De Clou which caused the fight to be eventually stopped and Jones to get his sweet revenge.
In the second fight of the professional card, Marques and Rogers assessed each other in the opening round by employing the jab and the occasional exchange of punches. While many of the punches did not land cleanly, it was evident that Marques was the quicker and technically sounder boxer.
In the second round Marques increased his production rate and became a more elusive target for Rogers, who seemed more fixed on connecting one good shot.
Constantly, the ‘Pocket Rocket’ was tattooed with jabs and the occasional combination body digs.
However, by no means did Rogers play possum.
He countered on a few occasions with some solid shots of his own especially a right hooks to the head in round two that stunned Marques momentarily. But these were few and far in between especially since Rogers was behind on all three judges scorecards and this prompted him to start wildly rushing in with his telegraphed shots that Marques saw and made the necessary adjustments.
Marques got even more lethal as Rogers became an easier target as he rushed to regain lost ground. He had used his rough house technique against Elton ‘The Real Coolie Bully’ Dharry and was severely punished and the same treatment was meted out to him last Friday by Marques who had the fans in the CASH cheering his name.
Eventually, Marques gained the majority decision over Rogers with judges Andrew Thorne and Orin Hart scoring the contest 39-37 and Rawle Aaron scoring it even on 38-38.
Orthodox boxers Lewis and Fraser in the main supporting bout started well with both pugilists sticking and moving until Lewis caught Fraser with a solid two punch combination to the body and head that sent him to the ropes.
Fraser punched his way out of the corner but Lewis stalked his slightly dishevelled opponent into another corner and landed a barrage of punches before landing a head snapping right hand uppercut that took out his footing, sent his mouth guard flying and the Sports Hall into sheer pandemonium. Referee Franklin Brisport jumped in and stopped the contest much to the disapproval of the fans in the arena.
In the feature event of the night many of the punches thrown lacked any sting. Jones, who was the shorter of the fighters, committed the ultimate mistake trying to connect to the head rather than to the body of De Clou. It was evident when Jones went to the framework the yields were better.
On too many occasions the fighters were unsure whether to fight in close quarters or from the outside where they would each give themselves room to operate. An overhead right connected to the button of De Clou and blood spilled from his nose before he was summoned to his corner for the ring nurse to have a first look.
He was cleaned up and but the blood continued to gush as Jones started to land more consistently at the top before De Clou’s corner was advised to let the fight be called off. Jones was leading on all the judges scorecards; Trevor Arno after three rounds had the bout 30-28, Carlton Hopkinson 30-27 and Lionel Sullivan 29-28 for Jones who won by TKO two minutes into the final frame.
In the night’s curtain raiser, female flyweight Ansila Charles beat Renee David over four rounds while flyweights Edwin Richards and Dexter Jordon and welterweight Bert Braithwaite defeated Danishwar Narine, Imran Khan and Damian Rose respectively.