Back to the Future: Tsurkan
Looks to Repeat Upset in Familiar Setting
June 26, 2009
(JUNE 26) On Saturday June 27th, Star
Boxing's jr. middleweight contender Andrey Tsurkan (26- 4, 17KO) takes
on 23-year-old up and coming prospect, and 2004 U.S. Olympian,Vanes "The
Nightmare" Martirosyan (24-0, 15KO) on the undercard of Latin Fury 9,
headlined by WBO super bantamweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez defending
his title against Olivier Lontchi. The card will take place at Boardwalk
Hall in Atlantic City, NJ and be broadcast live on Pay Per View.
For the 31-year-old Tsurkan, who hails from the rough streets of the
Ukraine, but now lives in Brooklyn, NY, he will be entering into
familiar territory when he steps into the ring against Martirosyan.
Tsurkan walked down this path before back in 2006 when he took on then
highly touted Hector Camacho Jr., who at the time was 41-1-1, 23KO and a
two to one betting favorite going into the fight.
TSURKAN (L) SIMPLY HAD TOO MUCH FIRE POWER FOR CAMACHO
Tsurkan, as he has shown time and time
again, fought his heart out. He took the fight right to Camacho and as
each round progressed you could see that Tsurkan was slowly but surely
breaking Camacho down. Finally in the 8th round Tsurkan began landing at
will. With Camacho taking heavy punishment, and not returning any fire,
the referee called a halt to the contest, giving Tsurkan his biggest win
to date.
Fast forward three years and here we go again. Once again Tsurkan will
be coming in as an underdog against a very highly touted prospect in
Martirosyan. Just like against Camacho, the fight will take place in
Atlantic City at the Boardwalk Hall. The only question left to ask is
will lightening strike twice for the Ukrainian? If you ask any member of
Team Tsurkan the answer is a simple, yes.
"I am very happy with the way our training camp has gone," stated
Tsurkan's highly regarded trainer Mike Skowronski. Skowronkski currently
has a nice stable of prospects out of his gym, including Tsurkan's Star
Boxing stable-mates, heavyweight contender Vinny Maddalone (32-5, 23KO)
and up and coming light heavyweight star Yathomas Riley (5-0, 3KO).
Skowronksi was also an intregal part in the career of former two-time
world champion Arturo "Thunder" Gatti serving as a second and assistant
trainer for almost all of Gatti's professional career.
This will be the third training camp for Tsurkan and Skowronski. Their
first lead to an impressive victory over extremely tough, former world
title challenger, Jesse Feliciano. The fight was shown live on ESPN2's
"Friday Night Fights". Tsurkan, who is known for his come forward style,
showed a much improved jab and boxing skills in his bout against
Feliciano, eventually stopping him in the 8th round with a barrage of
punches.
In their next fight together, Tsurkan was matched up against then
undefeated jr. middleweight prospect Alfredo Angulo, on HBO's Boxing
After Dark. Tsurkan was stopped in the tenth round, with just seconds
remaining, against the hard punching Angulo, but put forth a warrior
effort, never once hitting the canvas and choosing to stand toe-to-toe
with Angulo for much of the entire fight.
"We knew going in that the Angulo fight was going to be really tough,"
stated Skowronski. "You can't take anything away from Angulo, he fought
a great fight. I will say though that the training camp we have had for
this fight has been m Tsurkan voiced a much similar opinion as his
trainer, and feels he will come out victorious once again when he enters
the Boardwalk Hall.
TSURKAN WITH TRAINER MIKEY RED (FAR RIGHT) AND TEAM TSURKAN
"I feel great, I am ready to go," said
Tsurkan. "I am getting all the sparring I can get. This has been one of
the best training camps I have ever had. I have seen some footage of him
(Martirosyan), and I can see he has some pretty good skills. At this
stage of my career though, everyone I fight is going to have pretty good
skills. One thing you can't teach or learn in boxing though is heart and
I have heart, as you can see in my fights. When an opponent gets in the
ring with me they know what type of fight they are in. I keep coming and
keep putting pressure on you. Come June 27th we will see if he can
withstand that pressure."
The bout is promoted by Top Rank, in association with Joe DeGuardia's
Star Boxing. Source/PR
