‘I am hungry,’ says Marques
“ONE, two. One, two, three, four. Jab and move, jab and move. I want to see the legs moving, Kid.” Those were the words of Lennox ‘Capo’ Daniels to his charge – a hungry-looking Dexter ‘The Kid’ Marques – who faces Berbice’s Orland ‘Pocket Rocket’ Rogers for the World Boxing Council (WBC) Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) flyweight title at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall next week Saturday.
They will be punching off the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) card dubbed WBC Cup Caribbean Championships, which has as its feature bout, former WBC cruiserweight champion Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Brathwaite taking on Barbados Shawn ‘The Sniper’ Cox for the WBC/CABOFE heavyweight title.
Marques met and defeated Rogers on three previous occasions, even recording an 11th round TKO when they first met back in 2007, after recording a first-round TKO victory over Carlton Skeete in his debut fight three months earlier and he is one of three men to record such a victory over Rogers.
“Right now, I am hungry. After I lost to Elton Dharry –  who will also be appearing on the card – I went back to the drawing board, reflected on what I did wrong that made me lose that fight and after careful consideration, realised that I had underestimated Dharry and had trained with little or no intensity for the fight.
“Yes, Dharry is a good fighter and there is no doubt about that, but I still feel I can beat him and would relish the opportunity to face him once again, after I take care of Rogers and the other opponents who are in my way at the WBC Cup,” said Marques whose record reads 8-2.
The 25-year-old father of one believes that Rogers (5-12) had no idea what he was getting into, when he agreed to fight him, saying “he made a big mistake by signing that contract to take the fight, cause I intend to unleash a sound thrashing on him and take the CABOFE title.”
Marques added, “My feelings right now is great. I fought him before and defeated him and while I am not underestimating him, I know what he brings and what he cannot take and certainly I have within my artillery, the things he cannot take.
“I think he is too short to be a boxer and having knocked him out before, I will be looking for a knockout, probably anytime after the fifth round when we meet next Saturday. In fact, I will knock him out. I don’t see this fight reaching round six and even if it does, I do not intend to leave it to the judges to make a decision.
There must be one winner and that is Dexter ‘The Kid’ Marques. He is in my way to bigger and better things and as I said before, I am hungry and in the mood to remove all who are in my way to stardom, even Dharry, but first up is Rogers and I am sorry that he has to be the one who will carry the message to the others on my behalf.”
Rogers and national middleweight champion Edmond De Clou, who will be going up against Trinidad and Tobago’s Kevin Placide for the CABOFE middleweight title, had a close to a three-hour session under the eyes of Daniels and Terrence Poole at the Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis gym Sunday morning.
With the perspiration pouring down after his intense training session, Marques took the time to thank the GBBC for giving him this opportunity – an opportunity to showcase to the local boxing public his ability to represent Guyana on the world scene.
“The WBC Cup means a lot to me right now, since it will not only provide me with the opportunity to match gloves with some of the best boxers in the world in my weight category, but also enable us to show to the world that boxing has a future in Guyana.
“In that way, I need to follow in the footsteps of Andrew Lewis, Vivian Harris and Wayne Brathwaite by not only winning my weight division in the WBC Cup Championships, but go on to contest for a world title and win that as well,” said Marques.
“I have my uncle (Vincent Howard) who has been giving me the support ever since he heard about this fight. He said to me I can win this thing, he believes in me to win it and even gets up in the morning and trains with me on the road. He did not make it, but I will win not only for myself, family and friends, but him.
“I am full of confidence and I have been training hard. I don’t intend to make the same mistake as I did when I fought Dharry. I am training with intensity and hunger and come Saturday February 25, Rogers will feel the brunt of my wrath.”
Other fights on the card will see Dharry defend the WBC/CABOFE bantamweight title he won when he knocked out Marques last May. He will take on Barbados-based Guyanese Selwyn Lett and Revlon Lake will go up against Miguel Antoine for the super lightweight title.
Bell-time in the Marques/Rogers bout is 20:00hrs and with no live televised broadcast of the night’s action which will comprise 60 rounds of fistic fury, patrons are asked to pay an entrance fee of $3 000 for ringside seats and $1 500 for stands.