27.01.04 – Top-rated prospect TOKUNBO OLAJIDE and former world title challenger LARRY MARKS will duke it out for the vacant USBA jr. middleweight title, Friday, February 20, at Bally’s Atlantic City, as the main event on ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights.” The show is promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, LLC, in association with Thomas Gallagher Productions.
Olajide 27, from New York, and Marks, 31, from New Castle, DE, boast a combined record of 43-7 (30 KOs) – an outstanding winning percentage of 86 percent, with 70 percent of those victories by knockout.
Olajide, 19-1 (16 KOs), has averaged just 3.4 rounds per fight thanks to his trademark speed, mobility and power resulting in more than 84 percent of his victories ending with big KOs! The 1996 New York Golden Gloves champion has a resume that boasts knockout victories over an impressive roster of opponents including, Gary Jones, 19-1; Trevor Brown, 12-2; Richard Karsten, 11-0; and Leroy Brooks, 11-2. Since suffering his sole professional loss (a result from fracturing his leg from a first-round knockdown in his 2002 bout against undefeated Epifanio Mendoza, 16-0) Olajide has won both his 2003 bouts, the most recent a fourth-round TKO of Emil Baku, 22-1.
Marks, 24-6 (14 KOs), has gone the distance against the top fighters in his weight class, losing 12-round decisions to newly-crowned WBC/WBA welterweight champion Cory Spinks and former world champion Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis in their 2001 world title fight. Marks, never one to shy away from a tough fight, has unanimous decision victories over former world champion Charles Murray, 44-5 and former U.S. National Amateur Champion Brandon Mitchem, 18-2-1. Marks makes his 2004 debut fresh off a unanimous decision victory over Leo Edwards.
Tickets to the Olajide-Marks card are priced at $25 and are available at Bally’s Atlantic City Show Reservation Desk, located in the hotel lobby, or by calling TicketMaster at 1-800-736-1420. Tickets are also available on line at www.ticketmaster.com. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the first bout scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. All bouts subject to change.