Ringside Boxing Report: Andrey Tsurkan vs. Jessie Feliciano

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

The ninth installment of Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing series “Punchin’ at the Paradise” could have been renamed “Knockouts at the Paradise” as Andrey Tsurkan stopped Jesse Feliciano inside the distance, a trend all the fighters on the ESPN Friday Night Fights telecast followed in the Bronx , NY on Friday night.

Tsurkan, 26-3 (17), put on a strong performance against Feliciano, 15-7-3 (9), dropping him in the first round and landing heavy blows through the rest of the fight. Tsurkan dominated every round utilizing his jab and landing accurate power punches at will.

The tough Feliciano absorbed the blows in stride but was never able to get the better of the exchanges. He seemed unable to get out the way of the crisp head shots being delivered at will by Tsurkan.

Although the fight was one-sided in the favor of Tsurkan, Feliciano was also able to land some good shots through the fight.

During the eighth round the work rate of Feliciano slowed and the power shots of Tsurkan went unanswered, forcing the referee to stop the bout at 1:17 of the round.

The final Compubox stats indicated Tsurkan landed 366 of 788 (46%) total punches while Feliciano landed 213 of 738 (29%) total punches.

With this loss, Feliciano has now been stopped in his last two fights, most recently in a high profile bid against hard-hitting Kermit Cintron. Although he always shows tremendous heart and courage by refusing to quit, he has taken a tremendous amount of punishment in the process and will hopefully take some time off to allow him time to recover.

Tsurkan put on a great offensive performance and hopes to move onto bigger fights later this year. Some say a strong offense is the best defense but in the case of Tsurkan, he seemed to take too many unnecessary shots in the process which will give him problems as he faces some of the higher ranked fighters in the division.

In the co-feature, Albert Sosnowski of Warsaw, Poland needed only five rounds to stop Terrell Nelson of Plainfield, NJ.

Sosnowski 43-1 (26) resembled a body builder more than a professional fighter, which was perhaps amplified by the soft looking Nelson, 8-5 (5). Although Nelson came in to the bout twenty-four pounds lighter than his last outing in 2007, he appeared heavy and out of shape at his current weight of 268 lb.

Nelson came out swinging from the opening bell but was not able to land with much accuracy. Sosnowski dominated by landing to the head and body, keeping pressure on Nelson through the rounds.

Early in the fifth round, Sosnowski hurt Nelson with a combination, knocking him to the canvas. Although Nelson beat the count, he received several unanswered blows and the referee stopped the bout at :52 of the round.

The final Compubox stats indicated Sosnowski landed 157 of 335 (47%) total punches while Nelson landed only 72 of 315 (23%) total punches.

With a solid record of 43-1 (26), the biggest name on Sosnowski’s resume is Orlin Norris, who was towards the end of his career when he faced the Pole. It will be interesting to watch how Sosnowski fares in the heavyweight division as he begins to face better opposition.

Clarence Moore upset “The Fighting Marine” Jon Schneider with a second round stoppage of their scheduled six round bout.

The local favorite Schneider, 7-2-1 (5), started out well by winning the first round against his opponent Moore, 5-3-1 (5). In the second round, Moore landed a left hook that hurt Schneider, who remained on his feet but was wobbly.

Schneider was unable to tie up Moore as he moved forward with his hands at his sides, attempting to hold Moore, but was met with a barrage of punches. An uppercut from Moore dropped Schneider in the corner where the fight was waived off by the referee at 2:48 of the second round without issuing a count.

Undercard Bouts:

Middleweights: four rounds
Bryant Pappas, 6-0 (6), TKO3 Mike Terry, 1-3 (1)

Featherweights: four rounds
Eddie Irizarry, 2-0 (1), TKO1 Jean Ramos, 0-1

Welterweights: four rounds
Raymond Serrano, 5-0 (3), UD4 Damon Antoine, 7-23-1 (3)

Heavyweights: four rounds
Joe Hanks, 2-0 (1), UD4 Corey Winfield, 2-4 (2)