Bowie heavyweight Garth Hedger must have had flashbacks at Martin's West last night of his days as a Toughman tournament fighter.

For eight entertaining rounds, Hedger and Baltimore rival Scott Jones fought like rock 'em, sock 'em robots -- not much finesse, but plenty of action. It ended in an unpopular draw, with the majority of the 1,500 fans believing Jones deserved the decision.

Judge Ken Chevalier agreed with the crowd, favoring Jones, 77-75. Bill Holmes backed Hedger by the same score while Don Risher called it even, 76-76.

"Everyone knows I won," said Jones (6-8-3), who showed surprising stamina despite carrying some 30 excess pounds. "Every time he teed off, I came right back at him. I was a little winded at the end because of the weight, but I've never been a quitter."

Said Hedger (12-4-2), who suffered a cut over his left eye in the sixth round, "I thought I won most of the early rounds. I was killing him with good body shots, but I got away from my pre-fight plan by standing right in front of him instead of boxing. But, heck, let's do it again."

In the co-feature, left-handed heavyweight David Washington (12-1) floored Darryl Hollowell (10-7) in the second and fifth rounds on the way to a unanimous eight-round decision.

In other bouts: The last time Baltimore middleweight Charles Clark (7-3-1) fought Haru Carter of Washington, he felt he had good reason to dispute a split-decision loss. But there was no room for complaint in their six-round rematch. Carter (6-0) used his superior boxing ability, clever right-hand counters and foot speed to keep the shorter Clark off-balance and gain a well-earned unanimous decision.

Welterweight John Lockett (6-0-1), Baltimore, remained unbeaten by outboxing Abdul-Malik Rasheed, Cleveland, to gain a unanimous four-round decision.

Baltimore heavyweight Robert Anderson (3-0) was the beneficiary of a hometown split-decision in his four-rounder with Mike Morrell (1-2-1), Savannah, Ga. Morrell, 36, floored Anderson with a right hand in the first round and finished stronger than his younger rival.

Guyana native Shawn Garnett (2-1) dominated his welterweight match with punch-shy Anthony Daniels (0-2), Washington, before referee Ken Chevalier stopped the mismatch at 1: 52 of the third round.

Pub Date: 3/03/99