By Michael Lieberman: HBO decided they didn’t want middleweight contender Andy Lee as the opponent for Sergio Martinez (46-2-2, 25 KO’s) to face on March 12th at the Foxwoods Resort Casino, in Manshantucket, in Connecticut. Instead, HBO liked the idea of Martinez, 35, facing unbeaten WBO junior middleweight champion Sergiy Dzinziruk (37-0, 23 KO’s) in a fight that looks to be a good match-up on paper, but one that may end up being a complete bore to watch.

In terms of styles, this isn’t a fight guarantees there will be a lot of action. Martinez has always been a fighter that moves a lot and who does well against fighters that come forward looking to slug it out. Martinez has faced few boxers during his career, and on 3/12, he’s going to be facing the 34-year-old Dzinziruk, who prefers to jab constantly and stay away from exchanges. Dzinziruk is similar to Felix Sturm, the WBA middleweight Super champion, who likes to jab constantly but who rarely throws power punches.

Martinez is going to have problems coming in punching range to land his straight left hands like he did against Paul Williams in their two fights. Dzinziruk probably won’t be willing to stand in front of Martinez, especially after the way that Martinez stopped Williams in the 2nd round in his last fight in November. You can expect Dzinziruk to be on his bike the entire fight, shooting jabs out and keeping Martinez stuck on the outside. This is the wrong kind of opponent for Martinez to fight. If he does win, it’s going to be because his power shots are counted more than Dzinziruk’s constant jabs.