Monday, November 27, 2006 Marquez puts ‘impressive’ Jaca to sleep
PHILIPPINE superfeatherweight champion Jimrex Jaca gave all he got to impress his new US-based promoters, but the overwhelming Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez disposed of the Sibulan, Oriental Negros fighter in the ninth round to keep the WBO Interim featherweight title yesterday at the Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, Texas.
In Singapore, Philippine welterweight champion Dondon “Supremo” Sultan is now the supreme ruler of the WBF welterweight division after scoring a unanimous decision win over Australian welterweight king Eddie “Psycho” Delic after 12 rounds at the Suntec International Convention Center.
Despite the defeat, Jaca’s performance was enough to impress his new outfit—Golden Boy Promotions—that its president Oscar De La Hoya assured him of a slot for his May 5 match with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“Jaca was very impressive. In fact HBO was very happy of what he had delivered. He exceeded our expectations that’s why he is a shoo-in for my May 5 fight against Floyd Jr., because HBO wanted him to be there,” said De La Hoya.
Full count
The fight ended at 2:48 of the ninth round when Marquez connected a big left hook that sent Jaca to the canvass on a full count.
However, Marquez was repeatedly stunned by Jaca from the start until the fateful ninth round.
Jaca inflicted a cut above the right eye of the Mexican fighter on the fifth round, making the fight more interesting, and another fierce exchange of punches in the next round ensued, although the talented Marquez clearly hit more shots.
Never boring
According to reports from the Internet, there was no boring moment in the fight as both fighters traded punches until Marquez put down Jaca for good in the ninth round.
Meanwhile, Sultan crowned himself the new WBF welterweight title after all judges scored the fight in his favor.
Dave Hedgecock gave 117-113; Hengtrakul scored 115-112 and Oomsin Wattanakul tallied 115-112 all for Sultan as the Libason, Zamboanga del Norte native fighter fulfills his dream to win a world title.
It was a close fight from start to finish as Sultan improved to 14-7-2, 7KOs while Delic dropped 11-7-2, 2 KOs. (RCM)
