It seems as though this fight is in jeopardy due to contractual/financial issues. No surprises there, the last year or so has been a nightmare of more hard-fought battles outside the ring than in it. What follows is a quote from the scene. *****.com was advised that HBO has given Sergio Martinez (46-2, 25KOs) no alternatives for his televised return on March 12. The network has advised Martinez to fight unbeaten WBO 154-pound champion Sergei Dzinziruk (37-0, 23KOs). If Martinez is unable to finalize an agreement with Dzinziruk, the WBC middleweight champion will lose his reserved date on the network. Negotiations have been difficult because Dzinziruk has a contracted minimum with his promoters, Artie Pellulo and Gary Shaw, to get paid at least $750,000. The network, while pushing Martinez to face Dzinziruk, has not kicked in extra money to accelerate the negotiations. Souces with knowledge of the situation advised *********** that HBO laid down at least $2.4 million dollars. Although not confirmed, Dzinziruk's side was requesting at least a package of $1 million dollars. I've heard the two sides, for the most part, have been able to work out most of the issues related to money. HBO believes Martinez-Dzinziruk is the perfect fight to go head to head with Top Rank's pay-per-view, which takes place on March 12 in Las Vegas, and features Miguel Cotto defending his WBA 154-pound title against Ricardo Mayorga. While Dzinziruk is talented, and a fight with Martinez is intriguing, he is unknown to most American boxing fans. Mayorga, even at this late stage, is still a marketable name and his mouth sells fights. It's alarming that HBO would take this kind of position with one of their biggest stars. There is already some bad blood between HBO and Top Rank over the network's refusal to pick up a proposed fight between Cotto and undefeated Vanes Martirosyan. Now the tension is building between HBO and Martinez. Martinez's promoter Lou DiBella refused to break down the situation with HBO but said the negotiations with Dzinziruk's promoters are ongoing. "I'm pursuing the fight that HBO has insisted I pursue" DiBella told ****.com So what are your picks for this proposed match-up? Vote in the poll. Give me your thoughts.
Martinez wide UD. 2-3 rounds to Sergei. Maravilla starts to rock him around the 4th, has timed him perfectly by the 8th. Could be a late TKO, but I voted wide UD.
Dzinziruk is a good fundamentally sound southpaw boxer. He has a fairly high guard and reasonable footwork with fairly good power. He does have flaws - he paws with his jab, leaving himself open for left hooks over the top. We've seen Martinez's ability to land that big left hook. He also has a tendency to get hit more than he should. With Martinez's swift footwork I see him circling Dzinziruk and picking him off at range, gradually breaking him down and outboxing him over the course of a 12 round fight. It won't be an easy fight for Martinez, Dzinziruk has enough power to keep Martinez honest, but I see Maravilla cruising to a wide unanimous decision victory.
