Dexter Marques retained his WBC CABOFE flyweight title with a unanimous victory over Jamaican, Rudolph ‘Cutting Edge’ Hedge in an action packed thriller Saturday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
It was a workmanlike performance from the ‘De Kid’ whose familiar work rate and sheer volume of punches kept his 24-year-old opponent at bay throughout the punch filled main event of the five-fight card dubbed ‘Jamaican Invasion’.
Marques’ jab was a potent weapon and Hedge found it very hard to counter, going down by scores of 119-110, 117-111 and 117-111 in the rousing battle royal.
The flyweight champion 14(5)-2(2)-0, who was making the first defence of his title, started out in dominant fashion, snapping the challenger’s head back with straight punches and staggered him with occasional combinations.
Fighting for the first time in 13 months, ‘Cutting Edge’ 7(2)-2-3 looked sharp and aggressive, but he was simply unable to track down the elusive Marques who remained at a distance while picking his shots to perfection on the outside.
After four rounds, Marques was ahead on all three of the judges score cards (40-36, 40-36, 40-36) and continued to pile up the points with his superior skill,speed and counter punching tactics.
At the end of the eighth with the crowd chanting Dexter! Dexter!, the score cards read 80-74,80-73-79-73. It was now evident that Hedge needed a knockout to pull out a victory.
In rounds nine and 10, Hedge tried to land several home run punches, throwing round house heaves that missed wildly as the fleet footed Marques danced out of range while countering at will.
During the championship rounds,the gutsy Jamaican who was bleeding from a cut above his left eye continued to throw power punches but the ‘De Kid’ put any thoughts of an upset to bed when he stunned Hedge with thunderous left, right combinations. The flurries put an exclamation mark on his polished victory and handed Hedge his second loss of his career.
Quick Results
Flyweight:Dexter Marques defeats Rudolph Hedge – Unanimous decision (117-111 x 2, 119-110)
Light Middleweight: Devon Moncrieffe defeats Mark Austin-Unanimous decision (82-79,80-72,79-73)
Super Middleweight: Kemahl Russell defeats Romeo Norville-TKO (round 2)
Lightweight: Quincy Gomes defeats Toriano Nicholas-Majority decision (38-38,39-37×2)
Super Featherweight: Richard Williamson defeats David Thomas-TKO (round 4)
Undercard
On the undercard, Marques’ country men, Mark Austin and Romeo Norville were not as successful and suffered contrasting defeats.
Norville (record) was stopped by his Jamaican opponent, Kemahl Russell in the second round of their super middleweight contest while Devon ‘Concrete’ Moncrieffe dominated Austin over eight rounds in their light middleweight bout.
After four quick knockdowns in the latter stages of the second, Norville’s coach, James Walcott had seen enough and threw in the towel.
Austin showed his grit by surviving a first round onslaught by the man dubbed ‘Concrete’ and had his moments in the ensuing rounds but the busier and hard hitting Moncrieffe who sported a swollen left eye, did enough to pound out the victory.
Debutant, Quincy Gomes however got the judges’ nod against his Jamaican opponent, Toriano Nicholas.
Gomes won via majority decision (38-38, 39-37, 39-37) in the lightweight fight.
Nicholas was also making his debut.
In the first bout of the evening (all Guyanese), Richard Williamson padded his record via TKO after referee, Andrew Thorne reckoned that David Thomas was unable to continue after receiving a series of thunderous combinations.
The fight was waved off at one minute and 32 seconds of the fourth and final round after Williamson cornered a dazed and bloodied Thomas and unleashed several unanswered head and body shots.
Sponsors for the event included: Banks DIH Limited, Courts, Digicel, Fly Jamaica, Giftland Office Max and The Guyana Tourism Authority.
