Martinez vs Dzinziruk. Who do you got?

[Rantcatrat]

Am I the only one here who think this is a tough assignment for Martinez? Sure, he's got skills and power. But c'mon. I think he's being overrate right now. He's damn division is fully loaded, Pirog, Golovkin, Lemieux, Korobov. I mean he should stop acting like a coward and man up and face some real competition. The guy already ducked Pirog by trying to pick smaller men like Cotto, Mayweather, or Pacquaio.

He defeated the alcoholic Pavlik a guy with personal and physical ailments who probably his career was over at that time. He knocked out Williams which he had a hard time disposing him in their first fight... same Williams that already got exposed by Quintana. Sure he got robbed against Cintron... But he couldn't make a real statement against Cintron?... Cintron?

Woah. This is completely uncalled for. While I agree that this is a tough assignment for Martinez, he by no means is acting like a coward. Talk about 20/20 hindsight. Williams was a top ten p4p fighter when he fought Martinez both times. Kelly Pavlik was only found to have substance abuse issues after he fought Martinez. He went into the Martinez fight as the 2-1 favorite. Check those facts. Couldn't make a statement against Cintron? He hit him so fast that Cintron and the Ref literally didn't know what hit him. In addition, Martinez only came up from junior middleweight for the Pavlik fight. Prior to that fight, he was fighting at 154.

Cotto fought Foreman at 154 and is fighting Mayorga at 154. Martinez fighting Cotto at 154 is not picking on a smaller man by any means. Martinez has said that he wouldn't fight Pacquiao because the size disparity is too great.

Has Martinez not earned the right to fight in big pay days?

There is a reason he is ranked in the top ten p4p because he's consistently faced the best competition out there and Dzinziruk is no exception. He is fighting the world's best junior middleweight right now in my opinion.

You mention Pirog, Golovkin, Korobov, and Lemiux. None of them have even been main fight on a Showtime card, let alone a HBO one. Hell, only Lemiuex and Korobov have even been on ESPN. How did they suddenly deserve a fight with Martinez?

I hadn't read he ducked Pirog? Where did you read that? Pirog was completely unknown to the vast majority of boxing fans and then made a huge statement by knocking out Danny Jacobs. So, what did he do with his new found fame? Work to get himself back on HBO? Talk his way into a fight with other big names in his division? Fight another undefeated up-and-comer? Nope. He went back to Russia and is fighting Javier Francisco Maciel in two weeks - an obscure Argentinian with not one key win. That is no way to show that you deserve a fight with Martinez. In fact, it's the exact opposite.

Now I posted before that Dzinziruk was a tough fight for anyone including Martinez. I still believe that to be the case. What Martinez has going for him is activity and consistently good showings against top quality opposition. In other words, experience. Dzinziruk's biggest win was against Daniel Santos. That's impressive, but it is nothing on Paul Williams, Kelly Pavlik, or even Kermit Cintron. The problem is that the fight has the potential to be a boring, tactical fight. So, while Manny fights an old Shane Mosley and Floyd remains inactive, Martinez is still fighting top guys in their prime.

You should give Martinez credit for this fight, not take it away from him.