By CompuBox
As Larry Merchant often says, boxing can answer questions as well as question answers and such was the case when IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute stopped Edison Miranda in three rounds and Sergio Martinez decisioned Kelly Pavlik to become the new WBC/WBO middleweight king.
Martinez-Pavlik was a war waged in three parts:
“Maravilla” prevailed in the first four rounds as his mobility and sharp counters sliced through Pavlik’s defense while keeping the Ohioan’s volume attack in check. In that span Martinez out-landed Pavlik 61-38 overall, 20-11 in jabs and 41-27 in power connects while throwing 43.5 punches per round and limiting Pavlik to a paltry 39.
The gaps closed considerably in rounds five through eight as Pavlik revved up his jab, vastly improved his connect rate and slowed Martinez’s movement while forcing the Argentine to increase his output in order to keep up. In out-landing Martinez 75-57 overall, 36-24 in jabs and 39-33 in power shots, Pavlik raised his output to 46.5 while Martinez upped his to 49.75. The tide was swinging Pavlik’s way and Martinez was in danger of wilting in the late rounds.
The momentum changed irreparably when Martinez opened a cut around Pavlik’s right eye in the ninth. The crimson emboldened Martinez while Pavlik appeared sapped. In rounds nine through 12, Martinez piled up advantages of 112-51 overall and 98-21 in power connects. Not only was Martinez averaging 50.5 power shots per round to Pavlik’s 12.5, he landed 48.5 percent of them to Pavlik’s 42 percent. Martinez’s pivotal stretch run paved the way to a well-received unanimous decision.
In all Martinez was 230 of 686 (34 percent) to Pavlik’s 164 of 533 (31 percent). The taller Pavlik out-jabbed Martinez (77 of 339, 23 percent to 58 of 302, 19 percent) but Martinez nearly doubled Pavlik in power shots by going 172 of 384 (45 percent) to 87 of 194 (45 percent).
The PunchZone statistics showed that Martinez concentrated on Pavlik’s head. Of his 230 connects, 184 struck the head as the left logged 87 hits, the right 53 hits and 44 connects were to the chin. Of his 40 landed body shots, the left hit 23 times and the right 17.
Pavlik’s PunchZone map showed an even bigger emphasis on head shots. Of his 164 connects, all but 22 were to the head as the left hit 69 times, the right 48 and 26 struck Martinez’s chin. Pavlik’s right hit Martinez’s body 15 times while the left struck just seven times.
Once regarded as a tricky boxer who thrived on skill rather than strength, Bute now has scored his third consecutive knockout in four rounds or less. Bute enjoyed the best of both statistical worlds as he hit Miranda often without tasting much return fire. Bute was 47 of 103 overall (46 percent) to 21 of 144 for Miranda (15 percent). He landed 36 percent of his jabs (24 of 66) to Miranda’s 17 percent (10 of 58) and connected on an eye-popping 62 percent of his power shots (23 of 37) to Miranda’s 13 percent (11 of 86). Bute achieved double-digits connects in every round while Miranda was mired in single digits.
Bute was crisp, precise, punishing and balanced. The PunchZone map revealed that Bute landed 31 punches to Miranda’s head, of which 10 connects were produced by Bute’s left, 14 by the right and seven targeted the chin. His 16 body connects were distributed evenly – eight to the left side and eight to the right.
Miranda landed 13 times to the head (two with the left, four with the right and seven to the chin) and eight times to the body (six with the left and two with the right).
