For the second consecutive fight, undefeated light middleweight Yuri Foreman (24-0, 8 KOs) won a controversial split decision, beating Ukrainian Andrey Tsurkan on Thursday night at the Paradise Theatre, in the Bronx, New York. The final judges’ scores were 96-94, 96-94, and 94-96, giving Foreman the narrow victory. Foreman, 27, looked unimpressive throughout, spending the entire fight moving from side to side while flicking a jab. Much of the crowd disliked Foreman’s constant movement and rewarded him with a chorus of boos starting in the sixth round.
Tsurkan, 30, pressed the action for the entire fight, hitting Foreman with powerful combinations whenever he could catch up with him. Tsurkan appeared to win the first six rounds of the fight, as he was much busier, throwing the harder shots compared to Foreman’s flicking jabs. Both fighter received extensive swelling over both eyes, with Foreman cut badly over his right eye. Starting in the 7th, Tsurkan looked gassed from having chased Foreman around the ring for much of the fight.
From that point, Foreman appeared to take over with use of his jab and constant running. I still, however, gave the 7th round to Tsurkan, because Foreman was literally running from him and looking like he didn’t want to fight. Nothing much changed in that regards in the following three rounds, except that Foreman was able to run fast enough to keep Tsurkan from landing very. Overall, it was an awful fight to watch because of Foreman’s constant movement.
