By Jim Dower: A fight between WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (24-0, 14 KO’s) vs. former WBO junior middleweight champion Sergiy Dzinziruk (37-1, 23 KO’s) is reportedly in the works for August 25th, according to Dan Rafael. The Trout-Dzinziruk fight will be televised on HBO along with a unification bout between IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale and WBO 160 pound champ Dmitriy Pirog.
The Trout vs. Dzinziruk one is an interesting fight because Trout has looked really good in beating Rigoberto Alvarez, the brother of WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez, to pick up the World Boxing Association title last year in February. Trout, 26, has defended the belt twice, defeating David Lopez by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision and then beating a badly over-matched Frank LaPort by a 6th round TKO last November. Neither of those fighters were competitive and it’s clear that Trout needs a higher level opponent like Dzinziruk to give him a good test.
Dzinziruk, 36, was stopped in the 8th round last year in March by Sergio Martinez in a fairly competitive fight. Dzinziruk could have fought better had he used his jab more often. He looked too cautious and never got untracked like he had against other opposition. Late last year in November, Dzinziruk was stripped of his title by the World Boxing Organization for failing to defend it against contender Zaurbek Baysangurov. That would have been an interesting fight to see if Dzinziruk came to fight.
Trout is going to be a problem for Dzinziruk due to his counter punching ability, power and hand speed. This is much different style compared to the guys that Dzinziruk has been fighting in the past. He’s going to have to utilize his jab to try and keep Trout on the outside somehow because if he’s able to crowd him to land shots, Dzinziruk won’t last long. He needs to keep Trout on the outside to have a chance at winning.