Results Martinez vs Dzinziruk, Lee vs McEwan
Saturday evening at the Foxwood Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, the local Pequot Tribal Nation in association with HBO hosted a boxing card featuring boxers representing eight countries. In the main event, an Oxnard, California resident by way of Buenos Aires, Argentina knocked out a tough Ukrainian who now resides in Hamburg, Germany and in the Co-main event an Irish Assassin did the same to a Scottish Braveheart. They had representatives from Greece, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and of course the United States.
In that main event, Sergio Martinez KOed Sergiy Dzinziruk
The WBC middleweight champion of the world, Sergio Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KOs) who now lives in Oxnard, Ca. scored an impressive eighth round knockout of the previously unbeaten WBO middleweight champ Sergiy Dzinziruk (37-1, 23 KOs) who resides in Hamburg, Germany.
In round one it was Martinez’s impressive ambush style fighting and out-jabbing the jabber that got him off to a great start. Dzinziruk did better in round two and may have evened the score cards. Martinez dominated with the harder and more accurate shots in round three and four and was credited with a knockdown after Dzinziruk’s glove hit the canvas. The second knockdown came in the fifth round off a solid combination.
Round by round Martinez’s confidence grew and he soon started dropping his hands daring Dzinziruk to throw the first punch. Annoyed by the show of disrespect, Dzinziruk hit Martinez hard with a solid left after the bell. The punch opened a cut over Martinez’s left eye and during the break Martinez mentioned how the injury affected his vision.
If you can imagine, Martinez actually slowed things down in the seventh round. Then in the eighth, he put it back into his highest gear, jab, jab, solid overhand left to score a third knockdown. From there on, it was like that movie Ground Hog Day. After nailing him again for the fourth knockdown, the fifth and final knockdown soon followed.
When answering a Max Kellerman question later, he said, “At that point in the fight, I found my second wind and stepped on the accelerator.”
Since Dzinziruk is considered one of the top middleweights, Martinez’s performance went along way to validate the claims that he is one of the best pound for pound boxers in the sport.
Once again, the Irish prevail over the Scots as we near St. Patty’s Day
On the undercard, Andy Lee (25-1, 19 KOs), an Irishman, won the “Celtic War” against the previously unbeaten Scot, Craig McEwan (19-1, 10 KOs), by scoring a spectacular tenth round knockout.
After an even first round, McEwan, who had lost twice to Lee when the two were amateurs, appeared to be in full control while throwing the three and sometimes four punch combinations while his opponent seemed content to land the less frequent power shots.
Round three is a good example of how lopsided things were getting. McEwan, who had Lee backing up, landed 43 punches to Lee’s 16. By round five, the accumulation of blows had Lee in trouble and holding. It appeared he was in jeopardy of being knocked out. By round six the punch stats showed McEwan landing 185 punches while Lee only landed 100.
It was about this time the heavily favored Lee started to mount his comeback. Going into the ninth round, he started landing the much heavier blows on the dog tired McEwan. Then a surprising straight left sent McEwan flying backward into his own corner. McEwan got up and managed to last out of the round, but it was clear he was in trouble.
Sitting there on his stool, the seconds worked feverishly and advised him that he was ahead on the scorecards. All he needed to do was last out the final round. Their counsel, “Grab and hold, tie him up!”
Fifty-six seconds later, the bout was stopped after a big lefthand over the top sent McEwan down for the final time. The dramatic, come from behind knockout victory surprised everyone except Lee who later said, “Early on I became one punch happy, but I kept taking his best shots and kept coming forward. In the later rounds I could see he was exhausted.”
Lee, who turns 27 in June, is now on a 10 fight winning streak and moving in the direction of a world title shot. The last time he fought close to St Patty’s Day was on March 16, 2007 at the Madison Square Garden in New York. That night he produced a spectacular knockout that sent Carl Daniels, a former world light middle weight champion, crashing to the canvas in round three.
For the last six weeks, Emanuel Steward, his trainer, had him training in the Miguel Cotto WBA super light middleweight world champion’s training camp at ‘The Heavyweight Factory’ gym in Hollywood, Florida. Lee, who usually trains at the Kronk Gym in Detroit, looked impressive in sparring with the bigger mugs.
Steward believes Lee has all the tools. “Andy is an experienced, strong fighter and carries a powerful punch in either hand; he is an intelligent boxer who can read a fight and can adapt his style with ease during a fight. He has plenty of heart and can dig deep to win a fight.”
I imagine Andy Lee would be the first to offer a toast:
Here’s to a long life and a merry one.
A quick death and an easy one.
A pretty girl and an honest one.
A cold beer-and another one!
Craig McEwan’s follow-up toast:
Here’s to you and here’s to me.
May we never disagree.
But should we start to fight and ‘cuss,
Here’s to me.
