Soviet Fighters Earn Respect

The Red Invasion did not exactly take San Diego by storm Tuesday night, but four Soviet fighters did seem to earn the respect of the announced crowd of 2,100 at the Sports Arena.

Three Soviets won impressively and the other was beaten on a split decision. The heavy pro-American crowd cheered for the Soviets after their bouts, but not during them.

Clearly the most impressive and by far the most advanced of the Soviet professionals, was lightweight Sergei Artemiev, who knocked out Robert Olivera of San Diego in 1:45 of the first round.

Artemiev (3-0) floored Olivera (2-5) with a straight-right hand and then finished him off seconds later with a wicked right.

“He has that natural leverage,” said Tommy Gallagher, who trains the Soviet boxers. “I’m pleased with the win, but we really didn’t see anything tonight in the opponent. It just tells me we made the right decision on our style of opponent.”

Junior welterweight Igor Ruznikov was the least experienced and least impressive. In his six-round split decision loss to Ramona Zavala of Los Angeles, Ruznikov became the first Soviet professional to lose a pro fight. But in Ruznikov’s defense, he was only fighting his third pro bout, while Zavala, 32, had won 11 of his 14 fights.

“He’s fighting a guy who’s a 10-round fighter,” said Lou Falcigno, the Soviets’ manager. “(Ruznikov) should not have been in the ring with him. That’s my fault.”

Zavala compared Ruznikov’s awkward style to that of “an old-fashioned boxer.”

“They need some more experience in pro boxing,” Zavala said. “That style is better for amateur boxing.”

Soviet heavyweight Yuri Vaulin has also been criticized for his amateurish style, but he proved to Joey Parker that he also has some substance.

Although he hurt his right hand in the second round, Vaulin (5-0) dominated all six rounds of his lopsided fight with Parker (13-8), who has had 15 more pro fights and outweighed Vaulin by 11 pounds.

Vaulin never did get inside against Parker, but he didn’t need to. He did enough damage from the outside. Once in the third round, Vaulin, who never had gone more than three rounds, threw about 20 unanswered punches before Parker even reacted. Then in the fourth round, Parker was knocked down by a flurry of body punches.

“For only five pro fights, (Vaulin) looked like he’s been around for a while,” Falcigno said. “He got whacked a couple times, but it didn’t seem to faze him.”

Gallagher said he was also impressed with Vaulin’s showing.

“This is a great step up for him,” Gallagher said. “I’m beginning to understand his style and his moves more.”

But Gallagher said he would have liked to see his heavyweight keep Parker on the canvas.

“Yuri doesn’t know how to finish yet, but once he does, he’ll be OK,” Gallagher said.

The first Soviet to win was middleweight Victor Egorov (3-0), who disposed of Tyrone King (1-2) of Richmond, Calif., in just 2:13.

In the only 10-round bout, San Diego’s Tony ‘Bazooka” DeLuca was stopped on cuts by Jose Quirino of Tijuana at 1:13 of the second round. DeLuca (17-4-3) was knocked down in the first round and cut above the eye in the second round.

DeLuca, who lost his last fight to Michael Carbajal on a unanimous decision, claimed he was butted by Quirino.