By Gary “Digital” Williams at ringside
Photos: Mike Greenhill
The scheduled 10-round main event bout between Gerome “GQ” Quigley of Montgomery Village, MD and Raymond “Tito” Serrano of Philadelphia, PA at the Gardens Ice House in Laurel, MD ended in a disappointing no-contest after almost two rounds.
In the first round, Serrano surprised the large partisan crowd by landing solid shots to put Quigley on his heels. However, during the round, the two men clashed heads causing a cut on Quigley’s forehead. The cut continued to bleed during the second round and ringside physicians could not stop the bleeding and asked referee Kenny Chevalier to stop the contest at 1:59 of the second.
Quigley’s record is 18-0, 16 KO’s, one NC and Serrano is 24-5, 10 KO’s, one NC. The USBA Welterweight and WBC USNBC Welterweight titles the two men were fighting for remain vacant.
The co-feature contest saw a Beltway Boxing Knockout Of The Year candidate delivered by Greenbelt, MD cruiserweight “The Vanilla Gorilla” Sam Crossed. Crossed needed just 23 seconds to knock out Joshua Jones of Brunswick, MA. Crossed, who won the same award in 2016, landed a devastating right hand to Jones’s chin that made Jones slump forward and fall to his knees. Referee Brent Bovell immediately waived the bout off without a count. Crossed remains undefeated at 7-0, five KO’s while Jones loses for the first time at 2-1, one KO.
Clinton, MD super featherweight Cobia “The Soldier” Breedy won a six-round unanimous decision over Drew “Cruel Intentions” Correll of Danville, VA. After a close couple of rounds, Breedy’s speed and accuracy took over in the bout as he started to settle down and land the majority of telling blows. Referee David Braslow took a point away from Correll for spitting out his mouthpiece in the fourth round. Breedy would finish the bout with a strong sixth round. Judges John Gradowski and Don Risher scored the bout 60-54 while judge Paul Wallace saw the contest 60-53. Breedy is now 12-0, four KO’s while Correll suffers his first pro loss and is now 9-1, eight KO’s.
This Jeter Promotions/GQ Promotions card also had an area Bout Of The Year candidate as “The Cisco Kid” Francisco Bustos of Rockville, MD won a tough four-round unanimous decision over Jauvan John of Newport News, VA. The two men battled hard for all four rounds. However, after surviving a tough onslaught by John in the first round, Bustos landed a strong right hand in the second round that dropped John to the canvas. John would beat the count and come back to make the bout close but Bustos was able to withstand his oppnent’s onslaught with quality shots of his own. Judge Gradowski saw the bout 39-36 while judges Risher and Wallace scored the contest 38-37 for Bustos, who remains undefeated at 7-0, four KO’s. John is now 2-6-1.
Glenarden, MD super lightweight Drayvontay Speed Rawls scored a fourth-round TKO over Matthew Murphy of East St. Louis, MO. Speed Rawls would use Murphy for target practice throughout the contest, landing quality blows that battered his opponent. Murphy provided little offense during the bout. Eventually, Murphy’s corner had the referee stop the contest at 1:34 of the fourth. Speed Rawls is now 10-1-1, seven KO’s while Murphy falls to 3-25-3, two KO’s.
Oxon Hill, MD welterweight Rashad “Code Blue” Kilpatrick won a four-round unanimous decision over Lamont White of Washington, DC. Kilpatrick was in complete control of the bout as White was in a defensive/survival mode. Kilpatrick would win by shutout across the board, 40-36. Kilpatrick raises his record to 2-0, one KO while White is 1-13, one KO.
Laurel, MD lightweight “The Red Comet” Dante Cox knocked out Ty’Shae Ferguson of Danville, VA at 2:10 of the first round. Cox landed a crushing left-right combination to drop Ferguson to the canvas. Ferguson would beat the count but was unfit to continue. Cox is now 2-0, one KO while Ferguson falls to 0-9.
In the curtain-raising contest, debuting welterweight Marlon “The Machine” Bolen of Clinton, MD scored a third-round TKO over the equally-debuting Christopher Thorne of Fort Lauderdale, FL. Bolen would drop Thorne with a solid series of punches in the first round. Bolen kept Thorne on his bicycle in the second round before ending the contest with a right hand in the third round that sent Thorne to the canvas again. The bout would be stopped at 2:10 of the third.
The husband and wife duo of Tony and Christen Jeter head Jeter Promotions. Quigley and Jeff Gatling are in charge of GQ Promotions. The matchmaker was Brian Dillon and the ring announcer was Henry “Discombobulating” Jones.
