number1contender.net

ESPN Wednesday Night Fights Recap

April 11, 2007

Utopia's Paradise Theatre-Bronx, New York

This is the season debut of Wednesday Night Fights.

NABF Super Welterweight (154 pounds) 10-Round Championship Match:

Andrey Tsurkan (24-2, 15 KO's, 153.75 pounds) (c) vs. Sammy Sparkman (19-15-1, 8 KO's, 150 pounds)

Tsurkan is the local fighter here. He likes to brawl and should entertain the crowd. He is a Ukrainian born fighter and undefeated since late 2003, but that only spans 5 fights. His last fight was a TKO victory over Hector Camacho, Jr. ten months ago on an HBO PPV. Another couple of wins and Tsurkan canrise to main event challenger status. Tsurkan had over 250 amateur bouts in Europe so he has seen a lot in the ring before becoming a pro.

Sparkman has fought an impressive resume of boxers including Mikkel Kessler, Cory Spinks and Miguel Cotto, just to name a few. Sparkman lost to all of the big names he has faced though, but has proven himself battle tested.

Tsurkan wins round 1, 10-9. Tsurkan just keeps walking straight forward at Sparkman, throwing lots of punches without paying a price. Round 2 to Tsurkan, 10-9. In round 2, Tsurkan threw 146 punches. In round 3, Sparkman goes down due to a push/feet entanglement; it is correctly ruled a slip by the referee. The fight quickly resumes. The last minute of the round is very exciting as it turns into a wild brawl with Tsurkan throwing punches non-stop, but leaving ample opportunities to be countered. Finally, Sparkman takes the counter opportunities and the two boxers just let lose on each other with punches abandoning all defense. Still, Tsurkan wins round 3, 10-9. Atlas awarded round 3 to Sparkman with the previous two rounds to Tsurkan. Teddy's scorecard after 3 is 29-28, for Tsurkan.

With 1:44 to go in round 4, Tsurkan receives a warning for a low blow near the cup region. Tsurkan is now paying the price for coming straight forward. Round 4 to Sparkman, 10-9. Teddy Atlas scored round 4 for Tsurkan. Back in control Tsurkan wins round 5, 10-9. The average punches landed per round halfway through the fight is 31 for Sparkman and 45 for Tsurkan. With 1:10 to go in round 6, time is called and Tsurkan is again warned about a very low blow. Another low blow, and it is likely Tsurkan will lose a point. In this fight, that point could matter. Round 6 to Tsurkan, 10-9. This fight may be closer than on my score card. Tsurkan had his lowest punch output in round 6 since the first round, only throwing 117 punches. Atlas scored the last two rounds for Tsurkan. We both have it, 59-55 Tsurkan after 6 rounds.

Tsurkan wins round 7, 10-9. With 6 seconds to go in round 8 Sparkman just runs through Tsurkan knocking the champion down. The referee correctly rules it a slip, and the match is quickly resumed. Round 8 to Tsurkan, 10-9. Sparkman needs a knockout to win at this point. Sparkman landed only 7 of 51 punches thrown in round 8. With 2:12 to go in round 9, Tsurkan delivered an amazing left hook that sent Sparkman to the ground. It looked like Sparkman lost a tooth, with his mouthpiece still in place, when he was hit by the left hook right on the button. Sparkman fell backwards to the mat and he is out cold. The referee is applying the count, but it is academic at this point. Sparkman lifted his head by the count of ten, but he is going nowhere. This is a highlight reel knockout. Sparkman never saw the punch coming.

The official decision is: At 1:02 of round 9 the winner by knock out and still NABF Super Welterweight Champion, Andrey Tsurkan. He is now 25-2 with 16 KO's. That is the best knockout of any ESPN boxing match this year according to Joe Tessitore. It is going to take something really special to beat that left hook for a better highlight knockout this year on ESPN.