By CompuBox

Consensus middleweight champion and top pound-for-pound entrant Sergio Martinez showed why he was deserving of his high accolades Saturday night at Foxwoods when he destroyed previously unbeaten Sergiy Dzinziruk in eight rounds. Not only did he produce a comprehensive victory, the Argentine did so by beating the longtime WBO junior middleweight champion at his own game.

Nicknamed “Razor” for his hard, accurate jabs, Dzinziruk had hoped to keep Martinez at bay. But Martinez was truly “Maravilla” – “Marvelous” – as he out-jabbed the jabber, going 147 of 384 (38 percent) to Dzinziruk’s 80 of 242 (33 percent).   That’s an average of 18 jabs landed per round for Sergio- three times the middleweight avg.  He threw 48 jabs per round- double the middleweight avg.  

Martinez established several new CompuBox-tracked personal bests, including:

* 92 punches thrown in round six (previous record: 90, round nine against Kelly Pavlik)

* 24 connected jabs in rounds one and three (previous record: 21, round six against Alex Bunema)

* 62 attempted jabs in round seven (previous record: 49, round six against Alex Bunema)

* 147 connected jabs in a fight (previous record: 101 against Alex Bunema)

* 384 attempted jabs in a fight (previous record: 302 against Kelly Pavlik)

* 226 total connects (previous record: 183 against Paul Williams)

And Martinez achieved this against an established champion known for his supreme fundamentals. How amazing is that?

In all, Martinez was 226 of 593 (38 percent) to Dzinziruk’s 161 of 413 (39 percent) and 79 of 209 (38 percent) in power punches to Dzinziruk’s 81 of 171 (47 percent).

Dzinziruk was indeed accurate with his razors; he just wasn’t able to throw often enough to counteract Martinez’s hyperactivity. Dzinziruk’s respectable 58 punches per round through seven completed rounds was dwarfed by Martinez’s 79 – a very high output for the Argentine that had averaged 51.8 in seven previous CompuBox-tracked fight – but Dzinziruk was able to land consistently. He topped 40 percent in overall connects in four rounds, topping off at 49 percent in round six (33 of 67) and in terms of power punches Dzinziruk surpassed 40 percent from rounds two through eight with his high water mark being 65 percent in round four (13 of 20).

After being swamped in the first six, Dzinziruk rallied in rounds six and seven by out-landing Martinez 65-60 overall and 31-21 in power shots. But Martinez’s power, variety and resourcefulness proved decisive.

The PunchZone maps showed that both men mainly targeted the head (183 of 226, 81 percent for Martinez; 137 of 160, 85.6 percent for Dzinziruk). Of Martinez’s head connects, 115 – or 62.8 percent – struck Dzinziruk’s chin while right hands accounted for 42 (22.9 percent) and lefts netted 26 (14.2 percent). As for Dzinziruk, right hands accounted for 66 (48.1 percent) of his head strikes while 47 (34.3 percent) struck Martinez’s chin. Tellingly, Dzinziruk’s left scored just 24 hits (17.5 percent).

The bodywork was sparse but balanced. Martinez landed 43 times with lefts hitting 20 times and rights 23 times while Dzinziruk’s left hit Martinez’s body 10 times and his right 13 times.

*

Speaking of resourcefulness, what can one say about Andy Lee’s dramatic 10th round TKO of Craig McEwan? Just five days before St. Patrick’s Day, the Irishman dug deep and swept away his Scottish rival’s tremendous numerical advantages.

Through the first seven rounds, McEwan led Lee 531-429 in attempted punches, 245-115 in total connects and 180-76 in power connects. In rounds four, five and six alone McEwan landed 135 punches to Lee’s 50. But the seeds of Lee’s comeback were planted in the eighth as he established two firsts in the fight – out-landing McEwan 28-27 and connecting at a higher overall rate (47 percent to 39). McEwan did his best to fight Lee off in the ninth as he held a 25-23 total connects edge but in the 10th Lee finished the job by landing 60 percent of his total shots (15 of 25) and 12 of his 18 power attempts (67 percent).

The final numbers spoke loudly of McEwan’s dominance. He was 301 of 688 (44 percent) overall to Lee’s 181 of 578 (31 percent), 78 of 205 (38 percent) in jabs to Lee’s 55 of 247 (22 percent), and 223 of 483 (46 percent) in power shots to Lee’s 126 of 331 (38 percent).

Boxing is a sport where no lead is truly safe until the final bell sounds and the judges’ cards are announced. Lee-McEwan is just the latest proof of just how dramatic boxing can be when well paired fighters meet.

The PunchZone maps showed that while both concentrated on the head, McEwan’s distribution was superior (224 head connects, 77 body connects to Lee’s 149 head connects and 32 body connects).

McEwan found his greatest success striking Lee’s chin (87 connects, 38.8 percent of the total) but his left (65 connects, 29 percent) and right (72 connects, 32.2 percent) weren’t far behind. Meanwhile, Lee hit McEwan’s chin 69 times (46.3 percent) while the left garnered 41 hits (27.5 percent) and the right 39 connects (26.2 percent).

Forty-six of McEwan’s 77 body connects (59.7 percent) resulted from lefts, unusual because the southpaw left is slightly further away from the target. Lee’s division of body connects was more in line with conventional southpaw wisdom as 19 of his 32 connects (59.3 percent) resulted from right hands.