Sergiy Dzinziruk vs. Brian Vera, tonight at 9pm EST on ESPN2 FNF

This is the first defense of Vera's WBO North American middleweight title, which he took in the Mora rematch.

At stake could be the bigger prize of landing a payday against Kid Chocolate. Vera is the #2 contender. The WBO for some reason has Dzinziruk still ranked at light middleweight (#11) despite his not having weighed in at the 154 limit in almost three years. :? Presumably beating Vera would place him in the MW top 10, close to Vera's current spot.

Vera outworked Mora in their rematch, but there was some mild controversy as with his SD over Mora the year before. Some felt Mora "out-boxed" Vera, but personally I had Vera beating him comfortably in both 2011 and 2012. Sure, he chucked and missed a lot, but when he did land it was more effective than what little Mora threw back at him between spoiling. :conf

Dzinziruk was a fantastic light middleweight, once upon a time. I remarked a few years ago his jab was one of the p4p best in the sport. Then he moved up, got battered by Martinez, and hasn't been the same since. He looked positively hideous in his draw with the overweight Jonathan "Mantequilla" Gonzalez last September.

Yesterday's weigh-in:
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A look at their last two performances:

Brian Vera vs. Sergio Mora II:
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Sergiy Dzinziruk vs. Jonathan Gonzalez:
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Who you got? (it's too late for a poll)

 

vBookie up:

http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?t=456407

 

:roll: Which gifts would those be?

He legitimately beat Mora twice. :good

...and I'm normally the last guy to reward ineffective aggression over pure boxing, but neither time was Mora the more effective worker.

 

:nono

Mora didn't do anywhere near enough to counteract the # of touches Vera got in, even if Vera had to miss a boatload to get them. Vera also rocked Mora a few times in both meetings despite the latter employing generally solid defense and blocking, ducking, or squeezing inside to clinch through a majority of Vera's bombardments. It was simply too much of a disparity. If one guy misses a thousand but lands 500 and the other lands 200 of 400 and is winding up less power to boot, the heavier handed and more industrious guy with the larger tally of connects takes it. Case closed.

Look - I'm ordinarily a huge proponent of acccuracy/percentage over sheer workrate, but in this particular case Vera threw & landed more than enough to overshadow Mora's work in most rounds.

People treating Vera vs. Mora I & II as robberies need to get a grip. Abril vs. Rios they were not. (despite featuring the same dynamic: defensive minded counter-punching ugly spoiler vs. busy but largely ineffective aggressor)