VANES MARTIROSYAN vs ANDREY TSURKAN

Unbeaten junior middle Vanes Martirosyan opens Saturday’s Latin Fury 9 pay-per-view show in a 10-rounder against the always tough and game Andrey Tsurkan. It is a fight in which I would think that the 23-year-old from Glendale, CA, will be particularly eager to give an impressive performance. He is a clear favourite and is expected to win, but if he could stop Tsurkan it would show that the 2004 U.S. Olympic representative truly has star quality.

Martirosyan has yet to be tested, but a pattern has developed that sees him box his way to win on points if he is unable to get his opponent out of the fight in the first few rounds. This happened against warhorse Angel Hernandez, for instance. He dropped the sturdy veteran in the opening round, but by the middle part of the fight Martirosyan was using the ring and scoring points rather than trying to close the show.

Tsurkan isn’t easy to stop, of course. The 31-year-old Bronx-based Russian has only been halted twice, on a cut eye stoppage in a fight he was winning against southpaw Shawn Garnett, and in his most recent bout, when Alfredo Angulo wore him down in a drawn-out pounding that most people thought should have been stopped long before the referee finally waved the finish in the final round.

We know that Tsurkan will never give up, but it was worrying to see him take so many clean punches to the head from Angulo. Perhaps, after a long rest, he will be just as robust as he ever was when he steps into the ring against Martirosyan, but one has to wonder.

Martirosyan has said in interviews that he is feeling much more settled after returning to his Glendale roots after a spell of training in Houston under the direction of Ronnie Shields — he missed his friends, family and familiar surroundings — and maybe his more positive state of mind will be reflected in his performance on Saturday.

Tsurkan is a step up for Martirosyan. The Russian fighter pulled off an upset in Atlantic City a few years ago, in the same Boardwalk Hall venue in which he meets Martirosyan, when he overwhelmed Hector Camacho Jr. Ironically, Tsurkan perhaps boxed better than he has ever done in his last two fights before losing to Angulo, when he lost by split decision to Yuri Foreman and beat up Jesse Feliciano in what proved to be a mismatch. If he can reproduce the form of those fights, one would think Tsurkan can extend Martirosyan for 10 lively rounds and be competitive. Yet my mind keeps going back to the fight with Angulo. Although Tsurkan landed a good left hook in the third, and kept fighting back, it was essentially round after round of a durable and courageous boxer taking punishment.

I think that Martirosyan has a chance of getting a late stoppage if he can keep hitting Tsurkan the way that Angulo was doing. Martirosyan is the younger, taller, faster, more gifted of the two fighters and the sharper puncher. If Tsurkan is to spring the surprise he will have to do it by outlasting and outgaming Martirosyan, walking in and wearing down the younger man, but I have to doubt if he can do it.

Martirosyan is likely to get off to a good start with his greater speed and athleticism. If he can keep up a busy punch-rate, I think he can get the referee thinking about stopping the fight around about the eighth or ninth round. It would be an outstanding performance if Martirosyan can stop Tsurkan, but I think he has a reasonably good chance of doing it.