Camacho loses in controversial finish

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. --Hector Camacho Jr. played possum too long. Camacho, the 27-year-old son of former champion Hector "Macho" Camacho, lost for the second time of his career when a referee stopped his fight with super welterweight Andrey Tsurkan in the eighth round Saturday because he wasn't throwing punches.

"I was robbed," Camacho said.

Quicker and more savvy than the plodding Russian, the left-handed Camacho (41-2-1) connected at will on left leads in the early going but spent much of the first few rounds letting Tsurkan punch him.

What Tsurkan, 28, lacked in skill he made up for with hustle, repeatedly getting Camacho into a corner or against the ropes and teeing off on him. But he never hurt Camacho.

At the end of the fourth, he backed him into a corner and appeared ready to take control of things when Camacho tagged him with consecutive left leads. Tsurkan staggered face first into the ropes, but he stayed up.

He got a big hand from the Boardwalk Hall crowd as he walked rubber-legged back to his corner at the end of the round.

But Camacho couldn't finish him off, and in the fifth, Tsurkan looked no worse for the wear.

In the eighth, Tsurkan connected on a stiff right-left combination to Camacho's head that signaled the beginning of the end for Camacho.

Tsurkan got him against the ropes again, and Camacho fended off punches but didn't return them, apparently waiting for Tsurkan to tire himself out.

He stood in place, back against the ropes, after referee Randy Neumann broke up a clinch between the two. When Tsurkan returned and started hitting him again, Camacho offered only token resistance.

But Neumann caught everyone by surprise when he stepped in and hugged Camacho to halt the scheduled 12-rounder at 1:42 of the eighth -- with Tsurkan ahead on all three judges' cards. The move elicited boos from the crowd and stunned anger from Camacho, who ran from side to side in the ring, complaining to the judges.

"They should have stopped the fight in the fourth round," he said afterward. "He was out."

Tsurkan, of Pelham Manor, N.Y., boosted his record to 23-2.

In another undercard bout, WBC super bantamweight champion Israel Vazquez retained his belt by stopping Ivan Hernandez. Referee Earl Morton halted the 12-round bout on the advice of a ringside physician because Hernandez (23-2-1) sustained a nose injury.

Vazquez, 28, of Mexico City, is 40-3.

Also on the undercard, unbeaten junior welterweight Jorge Paez Jr. won his ninth straight, beating Travis Hartman in a four-rounder. Dominating from the start, the 18-year-old Paez scored at will with body shots and straight rights to win a unanimous decision over Hartman (7-4-1.)