The ascension of Dexter ‘De Kid’ Marques in the world flyweight ranks continued on Saturday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
In front of one the largest crowds to attend a boxing event in recent memory, Marques (17-2-0) delivered a whirlwind performance and pounded out a unanimous decision victory against Dionis ‘El Flaco’ Arias (6-10-2) of Venezuela.
From the opening bell of the headline bout of the ‘Bad Blood’ card, ’De Kid’ stalked and battered his opponent by using superior ring generalship and speed.
In the 4th round, a visibly hurt Arias tried to tie up Marques to keep from getting hit, but the prize fighter continued to nail him with really hard shots with his short arms, opening cuts above the eyes of the Venezuelan whose blood was spilt throughout the 10-round contest.
Marques used his superior speed and power to hurt a game ‘El Flaco’ several times in the fight. However, Marques who was shaking off some ring rust after a long layoff could not end the bout prematurely but went on to win unanimously with scores of 98-92 and 99-91x 2.
The young Arias showed great courage to keep going until the end when it looked like his corner wanted to pull him out after he was wobbled by a crisp right hand just before the end of the eighth round.
It was one of the best of Marques 17 wins without a stoppage. He can look with some confidence now to adding to his bank account and reputation as his promoters look ahead to his Commonwealth title fight in two months.
Marques was appointed as the mandatory challenger for the Commonwealth Flyweight Title against current champion, the undefeated Jay Harris (12-0) of Wales, UK, and that bout will be held on March 31, 2018 at the Copperbox Arena.
Meanwhile, in the co-feature in the battle of light heavyweights, Sheldon Lawrence and Shawn Corbin for Lawrence’s FECARBOX title, the latter ran out of gas and had to be stretchered off in the 11th after a brutal right hand to the temple.
Corbin was ahead on the scorecards after the eighth after putting on a spectacular counter punching display by peppering the Trinidadian Lawrence throughout much of the fight. However, at the start of the penultimate round, Corbin’s tank was visibly empty as his guards dropped and his punches lacked any pop. Lawrence who was also exhausted, seemingly got a second wind and landed a haymaker with eight seconds left in the round to put Corbin’s lights out. Referee, Eon Jardine quickly waved off the fight and summoned the medical personnel to the ring. Corbin who remained on the canvas almost motionless for the better part of two minutes, was then taken to the hospital as the stunned crowd stood in disbelief.
Elsewhere on the bill, Elton ‘The Bully’ Dharry (22-5-1) made easy work of Jesus Vargas also of Venezuela in his 28 pro fight to up his win streak to 19. Final scorecards read 80-71 three times.
In arguably the most punch filled fight on the card, Vargas’ countryman, Felipe Barcelo shocked Dexter ‘The Cobra’ Gonsalves to record a unanimous verdict.
Barcelo who sported an iron chin, neutralized the ‘Cobra’s’ reach advantage by fighting at close range, landing several combinations to the head and body of Gonsalves. Despite upping the ante in the latter half of the 10-round fight, Gonsalves lost on the scorecards, 98-90, 98-91×2 to Barcelo who absorbed much punishment but kept coming forward and throwing bombs from all angles.
In the two other fights on the card, Barbadian, Keithland King improved his professional record to 2-0 after stopping Anson Green in the second round of their scheduled eight-round, light middleweight encounter. James Moore had a successful start of his pro career, winning his heavyweight debut bout against Sherwin Clarke via the KO route in round two.
Saturday night’s card marked a welcomed return of the fistic sport following almost a year of inactivity. It was well organized and attended. Kudos to the coordinators.
