Quigley, Crossed Earn Wins In D.C.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Welterweight Gerome “GQ” Quigley (17–0, 15 KOs) of Germantown, Md. won a ten-round unanimous decision over a very game Luis “La Roca” Hernandez (16–5, 9 KOs) of Rio Pierdras, Puerto Rico in the main event of nine-fight GQ Promotions card on Saturday night at the Sphinx Club.
Hernandez came out ultra-aggressive in the opening round, unsettling Quigley. To his credit, Quigley made the proper adjustments and went on to outbox Hernandez, who never relented. Quigley was able to time Hernandez coming in with combinations and then get out of harm’s way with slick footwork. He also landed numerous brutal body shots, which slowed Hernandez down as the fight wore on. The judges’ scored the fight 100–90, 99–91, and 98–92 for Quigley, who went ten rounds for the first time in his career.
In the co-feature bout, cruiserweight Sam “The Vanilla Gorilla” Crossed (6–0, 4 KOs) of Greenbelt, Md. scored a fourth-round stoppage over James “Cobra” Jones (4–11, 3 KOs) of Nashville, Tn.
After a feeling out process early in the fight, Crossed scored two knockdowns in the third round, courtesy of an overhand right hand to the head and a left hook to the body. Crossed finished the fight off 45 seconds into the fourth round with a straight right hand that sent Jones down for a third time. Crossed was coming off the longest layoff of his career, nine months, due to a broke hand he suffered in his previous fight.
Cruiserweight Luther “Lights Out” Smith (9–1, 8 KOs) of Bowie, Md. scored an easy first-round knockout of late replacement Martez “I Am Legend” Williamson (3–20–1) of Akron, Oh. Smith scored two knockdowns before the fight was stopped at the 2:26 mark.
Lightweight Jahmal Dyer (3–0, 1 KO) of Baltimore, Md. scored a quick and devastating one-punch first-round knockout of Dwayne Martin (2–3, 1 KO) of Laurel, Md. Dyer landed an overhand right on the chin of Martin, who went down face-first unconscious. The bout lasted 22 seconds.
Middleweight Francisco “The Cisco Kid” Bustos (6–0, 4 KOs) of Rockville, Md. returned to the ring after 13 months off and scored a first-round knockout of the debuting Latrail Purdue (0–1) of Huntington, Tn. Bustos trapped Purdue in the corner and landed a crunching left hook to the body, who went down and was counted out at the 1:07 mark, much to the delight of Bustos’ raucous fans.
Super middleweight Justin Bell (2–0, 1 KO) of District Heights, Md. scored a first-round stoppage win over Erik Plumeri (0–5–1) of Lockport, N.Y. Bell came charging out at the sound of the first bell and and landed punishing combinations to the head and body at will until the referee mercifully waved it off at the 1:33 mark.
Super middleweight Leo “Platinum Power” Alcanera (2–0) of Fort Washington, Md. used an aggressive approach and sharp combinations to secure a four-round unanimous decision win over George Sheppard (0–2) of Newport, Va. The judge’s scorecards all saw the bout in favor of Alcanera by scores of 40–36, 39–37, and 38–37.
Welterweight Rashad “Code Blue” Kilpatrick (1–0, 1 KO) of Oxon Hill,, Md. made a successful debut, scoring a second-round technical knockout in a wild slugfest over the equally debuting Martegus Martin (0–1) of Columbus, Oh. The stoppage came at the 2:36 mark after Kilpatrick scored a knockdown of Cox, who beat the count but was too exhausted to continue and the referee waved the fight off.
In the first fight of the night, lightweight Dante Cox (1–0) of Laurel, Md. won his pro debut my majority decision over Archie Weah (1–8) of Norcross, Ga. One judge had It a draw 38–38, but was overruled by the other two judges who scored it 39–37 for Cox, the aggressor in the bout.
