By Cliff Rold

A main event that began with thrills closed with a chillingly one-sided thrashing before being mercifully stopped in the eighth round, awarding victory to 30-year old Jr. Middleweight Andrey Tsurkan (26-3, 17 KO) of the Ukraine.  In those eight, Tsurkan would dismantle a game but outmatched Jess Feliciano (15-7-3, 9 KO) of Las Vegas, Nevada to cap off an all-knockout affair on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights.  The card was carried live from the Utopia Paradise Theatre in The Bronx, New York. 

It was a Bronx-worthy affair at the start.  The first round was a contest of right hands, and Tsurkan’s carried him through.  Feliciano, 25, came out at the bell with a lead right that brought both men into the close quarters where they would remain.  Just prior to the one-minute mark, Tsurkan landed a short right that shook Feliciano, pitching him forward and forcing his glove to the floor for the official knockdown.  Feliciano was on his feet for the duration of the mandatory standing eight count and squared for a charging Tsurkan.  The Ukrainian let loose with a left-right to the body and then another right upstairs that initiated an offensive onslaught of clean power punching up the closing bell.

Each man returned to ring center at the start of the second and picked up where they’d left off.  The less refined Feliciano took the bulk of the shots but continued to wing his right hand in hopes of a change of momentum in his favor.

The momentum of the bout in the favor of viewers would accelerate in the third. 

Literally countless punches flew in three minutes of manly exchange.  Feliciano came out early switching from orthodox to southpaw and back, looking for any right hand opening available.  Twice in the round, he even attempted awkward, but fan approved, bolo punches.  Tsurkan simply maintained the hellish pace he preferred, mixing in sizzling left hooks to compliment his accurate body and right hand attacks.  It was anyone’s round.

Tsurkan continued to outland Feliciano in the fourth, another round where the action flowed so naturally as to defy description.  In the final thirty seconds, Tsurkan would land a left and then right upstairs which might have felled another man.  Feliciano fired back.

The pace slowed just slightly on the fifth and in spots began to look dangerous for Feliciano.  Using his head to prove more toughness than might be wise, Feliciano landed less but ate just as many flush shots as he had all night.

By the close of the sixth, the question of whether Feliciano should be allowed to continue became clear.  Tsurkan was landing at least every other punch and the same could not be said for the Vegas resident.  The question became louder in the seventh, a bell to bell bludgeoning that saw Feliciano’s head snapped repeatedly by hard rights and lefts of all varieties.  While his guts were laudable, the display was becoming hard to stomach.

ESPN commentator Teddy Atlas chimed in over the airwaves with similar thoughts to start the eighth and moments later the referee would step in to stop what had ceased to be a competitive bout rounds earlier. To their great shame, the live crowd booed the decision of the official.

The official time of the stoppage was 1:17 of the eighth.

For all the ‘wow!’ that was the early rounds of the main event, the televised undercard was anything but, even with two knockouts.  The televised opener featured Heavyweight Albert Sosnowski (43-1, 26 KO) of Poland picking up his third stoppage in four outings over the love-handled Terrel Nelson (8-5, 5 KO) of Plainfield, New Jersey. 

In other televised action, Cruiserweight Clarence Moore (5-3-1, 5 KO) of Charleston, West Virginia stopped Jon Schneider (7-3-1, 5 KO) of Yonkers, New York in two.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com