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Demetrius Hopkins Takes Number One IBF Light Welter Spot On Undercard
Juan Manuel Marquez continued his relentless march towards forcing a fight with troubled WBO Featherweight Champion Scott Harrison with a devastating ninth round KO of Filipino boxer Jimrex Jaca last night at Dodge Arena in Hildalgo, Texas on a Golden Boy promotion.
Former WBA/IBF titlist Marquez put his WBO Interim belt at risk against Jaca, a strong southpaw fighting in America for only the second time.
From the first bell, Jaca put his ten year youth advantage to good use, taking the fight to the 33 year old Marquez. But age difference aside, Marquez held a tremendous edge in experience, having faced most of the top featherweights over the last four years.
That edge was apparent in the higher quality of work Marquez put in but Jaca was game and fought the former champion on equal terms at times before a inadvertent clash of heads caused a cut above the eye of Marquez in the fifth.
The injury woke Marquez up as “Dinamita” sharpened his attack and began to pull away from Jaca before knocking the visitor to the canvas in the ninth with a snappy double left hook. Jaca, 27-3-1 (12), remained seated on the floor throughout the referee’s count and Marquez, 46-3-1 (35), was declared the winner by knockout at 2:48 of the ninth round.
In the chief support bout, Philadelphia’s Demetrius Hopkins, 25-0-1 (10), outpointed Rogelio Castaneda Jr., 23-11-3 (8), by scores of 118-110 and 116-112 (twice) to secure the IBF 140 lb mandatory challenger position and will likely face the winner of the upcoming Juan Urango – Ricky Hatton IBF title fight.
