ANDREY TSURKAN (record)

Age: 29           

Residence: Bronx, NY, USA

Birthplace: Lugansk, Ukraine

Record: 24-2, 15 KOs

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 154

Reach: 71"

Chief second: Ralph Farrait

Manager: Anthony Fiorino

2006 - BEST WIN/LAST FIGHT: On 2006-06-10, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, Tsurkan won the Vacant NABF Light Middleweight Championship by stopping Hector Camacho Jr., the son of the legend, Hector Sr. Fighting on the undercard of the Tarver/Hopkins showdown and in front of a national PPV audience, Tsurkan “refused to lose” and showed his usual tireless aggression in wearing down Camacho over eight grueling rounds. The impressive victory turned heads all over the boxing world and earned Tsurkan the #9 world ranking with the WBC

2000 - IMPRESSIVE WIN: On July 28, 2000, at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, Tsurkan won the WBC Youth Junior Middleweight championship by dominating formerly undefeated Paulino Avitia of Mexico, in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to published reports in the Las Vegas Review Journal, “By the middle of the second round, Tsurkan was clearly disdainful of Avitia's power. He kept his hands at his side and threw big shot after big shot at Avitia, eventually forcing referee Jay Nady to step in and stop the fight.”

AMATEUR, PERSONAL BACKGROUND: Tsurkan is a tireless, straight-ahead fighter with decent power in both hands and a solid body attack. Born in Lugansk, Ukraine, he is a former WBC Youth Junior Middleweight and former European Amateur Champion, who now fights out of Bronx, New York. He has shown steady improvement since turning professional and is now on the cusp of a world title shot.

STRENGTHS: Power in both hands, excellent to the body, aggressive, extensive amateur career, tireless worker in the gym and it shows
 

WEAKNESSES: Can be too stationary…sometimes makes fights harder than they need be
 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 26 fights.116 total rounds.
 

AVERAGE LENGTH OF BOUTS: 4.5 rounds.
 

KNOCKOUT PERCENTAGE: 63 %.
 

DISTANCE FIGHTS: 10 rounds - 1 (0-1); 8 rounds – 2 (2-0)

Tsurkan’s Big Turnaround!

By the end of the first round of Andrey Tsurkan’s fight against Hector Camacho Jr., last June, the HBO commentators were saying he was in trouble. By the end of the second round, with Tsurkan still relentlessly coming forward, no matter what was thrown at him, they were saying Camacho was the one in jeopardy.

They were right the second time.

Tsurkan (24-2, 15 KOs) ended up scoring an NABF title-winning TKO 8 on the undercard of the Antonio Tarver/Bernard Hopkins showdown.

On December 8, the Lugansk, Ukraine-born super welterweight will return to the ring for the first time since that impressive victory to defend his belt in the main event of a Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing show at the Paradise Theater in Bronx, New York, against lanky spoiler Thomas Davis (10-3-1, 6 KOs).

“I feel very good, very comfortable. Training is great and I’m working very hard in the gym,” says a confident Tsurkan during a break in training.

Promoter DeGuardia, who recently signed a long-term contract extension with the 29-year-old transplanted New Yorker, says he recognizes something nostalgic in Tsurkan. “Andrey is like an old timer – all guts, determination, and tenacity. Everyone knows that when they watch a Tsurkan fight, they are going to see exciting action.”

The victory over Camacho came as a surprise to some. Tsurkan had come up short in his previous high-profile fight, a 10-round sustained beating at the hands of Kuvanych Toygonbayev. Although he gave the national television audience a glimpse of his super-human toughness in that fight, Tsurkan showed some obvious deficiencies in the skill department.

Enter new trainer “Pastor” Ralph Farrait.

Manager Anthony Fiorino, who owns a gym where Tsurkan trains and teaches a boxing class, says Farrait has changed the fighter from a raw piece of leather to a skin shredding whip of a 154-lb contender.

“Pastor Ralph is an unbelievable human being. He trains Andrey, religiously. I saw a difference in Andrey within one week. Nobody throws more shots than Andrey, but he never used to move. Now, Ralph has him moving side to side, on angles. That’s how he knocked out Camacho. He caught him with a punch he didn’t see. Ralph has him bobbing and weaving as he’s coming. It made a tremendous improvement immediately.”

Already rated at #9 by the WBC, Tsurkan knows the fight with Davis is an important one in which to shine. A few more impressive victories could result in his dream of a world title shot.

Beating Davis, however, isn’t a foregone conclusion. The 6’ 2” Knoxville native has made a career of winning fights he wasn’t supposed to, including a shocking first-round stoppage of highly regarded Kendall Holt in 2004. In his most recent appearance, Davis took another “0”, this time against North Carolina’s formerly undefeated Agustin Velez.

Tsurkan and Fiorino say they’re ready. “He’s very tall and awkward and throws a good jab, but I’ll keep the pressure on him, work the body and never stop throwing combinations.” “He’s been training like madman. If you saw what we put him through, you would know that a pit bull couldn’t take him,” Fiorino affirms.

With the Pastor, the Promoter and the Proprietor lending their support, Andrey Tsurkan has turned his career around. After losing his first big test, it looked like his career was in trouble. But after his second test, it now appears it’s the rest of the division that’s in jeopardy.

“You’re going to see a tremendously exciting fight that night,” exclaims Fiorino. “The minute the bell rings, Andrey will be on him like white on rice. Being 6’ 2” is nice if you get the room to enjoy it, but if you don’t get any room to breathe, the height makes no difference. As much as Andrey will have to fight to get inside, once he’s inside, there’ll be no getting him off of Davis.”

Tsurkan Ready for War

“I am pleased to present this fight, which I think could be a candidate for fight of the year.  I am doubly pleased that Andre Tsurkan is stepping up to the plate.  Tsurkan is a pleasure to promote and he realizes that this fight, which is unquestionably a tough one, is what he needs to get to the world championship level.  Win, lose or draw, Tsurkan's positive attitude will ensure that he has a bright future in boxing.”  Tsurkan promoter Joe DeGuardia 

Sometimes a loss will make a fighter different.  Either it’ll shatter his sense of invincibility and make him forever beatable, or it’ll teach him a lesson he forever keeps.  In the case of Russian turned New Yorker junior middleweight Andrey Tsurkan, 18-1 (12), his first loss did neither of those things.  It just made him mad. 

That’s part of the reason Tsurkan says he wants to go to war this Thursday during his Showtime-televised, 10-round main event against Kuna Toygonbayev at Joe DeGuardia’s Yonkers Raceway extravaganza. 

Fighting on another of DeGuardia’s shows last December, the former amateur world champion lost by TKO5 to Guyana’s Shawn Garnett because of a cut eye.  How he got that cut is what has the fighter and his team so angry.  “It (the stoppage loss) was something we didn’t feel was appropriate, because if you watch the tape, he was ahead on every card against this kid Garnett 96-93,” said advisor Anthony Fiorino.  

“In the second round, they collided heads and the ref didn’t see it.  The doctor was inexperienced.  Between each round, he was all over Andrey saying ‘I don’t like it,  I don’t like it,’ even though the cut wasn’t even bleeding anymore and was under control.  The commission said if they had seen a head butt they would have over-ruled it, but they claimed they didn’t see one.  After the fight, if you watch the tape, the announcer asked Garnett how the cut occurred and he admitted it was a head butt!  The announcer wanted to make sure there was no misunderstanding and asked him again.  Are you telling me you are sure it was a head butt?  And Garnett said it was 100% a head butt!  That’s what got us crazy.  The commission wouldn’t reverse the decision even when even the other fighter knew they collided heads.  It was very controversial.  It was a joke.  The whole place saw what happened.”

Having lost under such circumstances doesn’t seem to have hurt his ability to land big fights however, perhaps it even helped, as Toygonbayev represents Tsurkan’s biggest challenge to date. “I think he’s very good and strong, but I’m ready to fight anyone, he said. Trained by all-time great Carlos Ortiz, Tsurkan says he is ready to rumble on Thursday. “I’m training hard every day and I think I will beat this guy.  It’ll be a tough fight, a very good fight.”

“We are very happy to be getting this opportunity,” said Fiorino.  “We have a very good relationship with Joe DeGuardia.  He’s doing a good job with the fight scene in New York. He’s rejuvenating it.  Everything has been in Las Vegas or the Mohegan Sun lately.  Joey wants to bring it back to New York.”

While Tsurkan says that Toygonbayev trainer Kenny Adams’ claims that his fighter doesn’t give the proper effort are probably just mind games, he does see a weakness that can be exploited by his fast hands.  “He seems like a straight ahead fighter that comes at you, so you have to beat him to the punch.  We’re both aggressive, but it’s a matter of beating him to the punch.

Sometimes a loss changes a fighter’s style and makes him more cautious when he needs to be aggressive.  A loss can dent the warrior’s psyche and put doubt in the place of bravado.  Andrey Tsurkan says he doesn’t know anything about that yet and he doesn’t plan on finding out Thursday.

Tickets for Thursday’s superb card are $30 for general admission, $70 for ringside with VIP tables of ten seats priced at $1,200, which includes a dinner buffet. To purchase, call Joe DeGuardia's Star Boxing at 718-823-2000 or online at www.starboxing.com