Tonight Sergio Martinez and Sergiy Dzinziruk will do battle for in non-PPV, HBO Championship Boxing broadcast for the middleweight championship. Two southpaws can make for an ugly matchup, but no one can say this contest doesn’t pit two of the best in their respective divisions against each other. They never got the chance to match up at 154 since Dzinziruk was effectively frozen out of the scene by former promoter Universum. Now there’s no further obstacles. He has the chance on a national stage to become an instant name by defeating a red-hot Martinez coming off one of the most chilling KOs of all time.
I expect the fight to be a chess match early on. How could it not be? Dzinziruk always takes a steady pace and will jab an opponent to death unless he’s given a reason to get out of first gear. Martinez is a natural counter-puncher and doesn’t like to lead. He’ll find trouble dealing with that jab initially.
I say initially, because by the middle rounds I expect Martinez’s speed to start paying dividends for him. Dzinziruk is much slower than Martinez, both in hand and foot speed. Maravella should start countering him well. Also, don’t be surprised if Martinez is much stronger and deals better with the punches. Although both came in at 158.8 at yesterday’s weigh-in, Martinez informed me he plans to be roughly 168 pounds tonight. This will be Dzinziruk’s first time fighting above 154, and there’s a chance the additional weight might affect him negatively.
An upset wouldn’t surprise me, but I have to go with Sergio Martinez by eighth round TKO. It won’t be as exciting as watching Cotto pound on Mayorga, but it’s without question the more competitive and intriguing fight for tonight. Being free doesn’t hurt either.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 