Marquez Cuts It Close Against Fill-In

With blood pouring from a long cut over his left eye and his right eye puffy, junior-middleweight Raul Marquez retained his International Boxing Federation title in a disputed, loudly booed split-decision victory Saturday night over late replacement Keith Mullings.

Mullings, a substitute late last month when original opponent Yory Boy Campas suffered a sternum injury, swarmed Marquez, opening the cut over the left eye in the middle rounds.

But Marquez (28-0) kept up the pressure despite the blood--and with two swollen hands.

The scores were 115-113 for Mullings; and 115-113 and 116-112 for Marquez.

“I did just enough to win,” said Marquez, who said he hurt his left hand in the third round and his right hand two rounds later. “He was very strong and had a very hard head. I’ll give him a rematch if he wants it.”

Said Mullings (14-4-1): “I definitely want a rematch.”

In earlier fights:

* Three hundred-pound oddity Eric (Butterbean) Esch got the worst end of the punching, but the benefit of the doubt, pulling out a majority-decision draw against Bill Eaton in a four-round heavyweight bout.

Eaton (8-1-2) knocked Esch directly on his back in the opening seconds with a short left to the chin, and Esch (33-1-1) was bleeding profusely in the final round after an apparent head butt.

* Bantamweight contender Paulie Ayala raised his record to 23-0 by winning a 10-round unanimous decision over Ricardo Medina, who fell to 20-17-4.

* Junior-welterweight David Diaz, a member of last summer’s U.S. Olympic team, took a unanimous decision over Daniel Hernandez. Diaz is 5-0.

* And in a women’s bout, Lucia Rijker, considered the main rival to Christy Martin, knocked out veteran Andrea DeShong in the second round.

DeShong (13-6-1), who was knocked out by Martin earlier this year, said there’s a major difference between Martin and Rijker (9-0, 8 KOs).

“She’ll knock Christy for a loop,” DeShong said after the bout.