PARADISE THEATER POST-FIGHT REPORT
Posted on | April 11, 2007 | 1 Comment
Joval and Tsurkan victorious at the Paradise Theater!
By Matt Yanofsky {Ringside}
Middleweight Raymond Joval (36-4, 16 KO’s) shook off a 17 month layoff to earn a unanimous decision over Willie “The Gladiator” Gibbs (20-3, 16 KO’s). The fight featured a lot of back and fourth action within the first few rounds. Joval elected to pick up the pace and was able to press the action and land many shots on Gibbs. While Joval did hold the edge, Gibbs did land some clean shots, but Joval’s excellent chin altered the effect of most of the punches. Joval hurt Gibbs in the tenth round but was not able to put him out. Carlos Ortiz scored the contest a surprisingly close 96-94 While John Trella and Steve Weisfield scored it 97-93 for Joval. After the fight, Joval’s manager Stan Hoffman said, “Raymond was very impressive tonight, especially considering his layoff. He put on a great performance and had great conditioning.” Hoffman also added they are looking at a big fight next for Joval but did not mention any names.
Audrey Tsurkan (25-2, 16 KO’s) retained his NABF Middleweight Title by scoring an incredible ninth round knockout over Sammy Sparkman (19-16, 8 KO’s). Tsurkan started the fight by coming forward and landing a large volume of punches on Sparkman. Sparkman landed many of his own shots due to the fact Tsurkan neglected his defense during his attack. Sparkman was fighting Tsurkan very tough and even won a few rounds going into the ninth. Tsurkan showed some signs of rust due to the fact that he was making his first appearance since June. In the ninth, Tsurkan unloaded an enormous left hook to the head of Sparkman and put him out cold 1:02 into the round. Sparkman was immediately checked on by the medical team and was able to make it back to his feet shortly after to a cheering crowd.
Big Scottish heavyweight Ian Millarville (5-0, 3 KO’s) earned a hard fought majority decision over Sean McLean (1-1, 1 KO). Millarville was the aggressor for most of the four round contest but McLean was able to land some shots of his own when Millarville was leaning in too far with his punches, ultimately forcing the majority decision.
Junior Middleweight Willie Nelson improved to 7-1 {4 KO’s} after defeating Ecuadorian import Elberto Medina. Nelson used his superior height to land most of his punches at will. Nelson put together many good combinations but Medina hung tough and threw many heavy blows. Judge Carlos Ortiz scored it 40-35 while Judges Steve Weisfield and John Conforti scored it 39-37 for the mohawked Nelson.
Light Heavyweight Denys Lozada improved to 4-1 {2 KO’s} after defeating no-hoper Lee Holoman 0-1-1. Lozada landed two left hooks followed by a straight right hand, which forced Holoman to slump between the ropes and forced the stoppage only 51 seconds into the contest.
Puerto Rican Lightweight Joel Torres improved to 3-0 {2 KO’s} after scoring a third round TKO over Bronx native Artie Bembury 2-1. Torres fought aggressively over the first two rounds and finished the job during the third by landing a right hand that stunned Bembury. The referee surprising elected to stop the contest, leaving many fans in question.
Welterweight Anthony Irons (1-0, 1 KO) of Brooklyn won his pro debut with a third round TKO over Eduardo Adorno 0-3-1. Ivory, who had a large crowd behind him dominated the first two rounds, threw constant bombs and tagged Adorno. Ivory finished the deal during the third by landing unanswered flurries and forcing the stoppage. Iron’s trainer Andre Rozier said this was Iron’s first contest in two years and he had much to improve on that only gym time could improve.
Former world champion Alicia Ashley (13-7-1, 1 KO) earned an easy unanimous decision over Della Hoppe (4-5-1, 1 KO). The southpaw Ashley landed many quick combinations and used her boxing ability to confuse and frustrate Hoppe over 6 rounds. The game Hoppe never went down nor appeared in serious danger from Ashley’s punches. The scores were 60-54 twice and 60-53 all for Ashley.