Comments Thread For: Sergio Martinez Given No Out By HBO: Dzinziruk or Step

[jrosales13]

Why should they want Pirog?

Dzin is a much nore proven fighter

People on this site are super-hyping pirog for some reason

True, but Pirog would not be coming off a year of inactivity, he would still be coming off a pretty long layoff but not as much as Dizniziruk and it would be even longer since Dzinziruk has fought a top fighter or even a top prospect, not that it was his fault.

And, not only would Pirog be cheaper to make it would also unify the division.

I honestly would like to see Dzinziruk take some kind of a tune up or a just a pre fight before fighting Martinez.

[Pullcounter]

I don't understand the hard stance from HBO, but I just hope they have this hard stance with every fighter.

they are trying to

Martinez and Cotto deserves low risk fights. Martinez, for coming off of two Williams fights and the Pavlik fight, and Cotto for coming off of a shoulder surgery. However HBO deserves to spend its money how they see fit.

cotto deserves a tune up or two to get more work in with steward, but not for the kinda money he'll be getting. cotto/mayorga is a B.A.D. fight, not a ppv fight.

dzinzurik is arguably an easy fight for s.mart

If I was HBO, I would pony up the cash for Cotto/Mayorga. I wouldn't stiff their most popular fighter outside of Pac/Mayweather. Mayorga makes for good TV. I certainly would have snubbed Cotto/Martiyosan. I think HBO would have taken Cotto/Mayorga but Arum is acting like an ex-girlfriend.

its obvious HBO wanted cotto/s-mart.

I'm curious to see if after Mosley fight pops off, if HBO will take the hard stance on Pacquaio's next fight as well. We know it won't be against Mayweather. I also am wondering if they'll bend to Mayweather as well when he comes out of vacation.

if wifebeater comes off vacation, he might get a tune up first, but only after he signs a contract that says he must fight pac next before 2012. of course wifebeater will balk and walk away like a coward.

pac doesn't need HBO. Top Rank can make ppv money by themselves fighting whoever they want.

The issue is that HBO always aired crap fights and allowed promoters to take advantage of HBO upping their money, and now they're having a problem reigning in all those loose cannons. If Berto is dropped and they stop being *****ed around by the big boys, then we'll take HBO seriously. So far, so good.

yep. hopefully the year of HBO welfare is over.

[KJB]

That doesnt seem very wise of them to hardball Martinez like that. The man has more than paid his dues, he took short money in his recent fights, and hes established himself as the real star of the division at this point. He deserves more respect than that.

[emhoffk]

I like HBO's new attitude as well - but it's misguided in this case. Dzinzruk is a safety first - jab and grab - stink it out - Euro lefty with no fan base here in the US. They must owe Gary a favor or something because they are totally bailing him out on the bad contract he signed.

I'd actually much rather see Martinez fight Andy Lee, who is a flawed but aggressive young fighter. If they held it in New York before St. Patty's Day they'd get a sell-out boisterous crowd and a much more exciting fight all the way around.

Let Dzinzruk go back to Europe and fight Sylvester or Sturm - or better yet have him fight Pirog or Martirosyan on BAD first so that people can see how boring he is to watch. I saw his fight on Showtime against an Aussie (Daniel Dawson) with a totally built up record and not much skill. It was like watching someone succumb to a Chinese water torture - drip, drip, drip - jab, jab, jab. Eventually the fight was stopped late but it was soo boring. This guy is like a poor man's Winky Wright.

I guess HBO is really sensitive to criticism but I don't think anyone would begrudge them letting Martinez fight Lee after having fought Cintron, Pavlik and Williams 2x in his last four fights. It does seem like HBO has such different standards for different fighters. Another DBE fighter, Jermain Taylor, always seemed to have to fight hard fights - at least after he won the title - but Berto has been allowed to cherry pick. Bizarre.

[SOPH~ REP.]

Im feelin it if they r going televise it it's gonna b the best of the best they should do the same wit berto

[chiguy91]

Dzinziruk or pirog would be great for martinez, but theres still some other decent opponents out there that hbo shouldnt overlook. i just dont like how hbo is saying that martinez might lose his date. really sucks to hear negotiations are going bad for martinez. hopefully something gets settled/signed soon.
its good to see them refusing crap fights, but i doubt theyll ever turn down any pac or may fights. like everyone says,they can fight a punching bag and itll still sell. i only see them doing this to fighters who arent on that level of fame like pac & may,which kind of sucks....

[j.one]

This is ******ed, HBO needs to get their head out of their asses in this situation. I understad they are trying to get rid of the BS fights, but you cant play matchmaker and force the issue.

Actually they can, and are as this example clearly shows. Next step is HBO need to refuse Manny & Floyd a spot until they agree and fight. If Floyd won't sign he don't get on, if Manny won't test like a normal human being then he's off keep it fair and attempt to force these guys to earn there keep.

That's as fair an unbiased as I get, also unless Andre Berto is fighting a good fight FINALLY then he go to espn or fox sports **** him too.

[Ray*]

Damn!!! About ****ing time too, I wish they HBO can say that to all the big fighters like Mayweather, Pacquiao and the rest.. Feel sorry for Martinez but this is 2011...

[The Gambler1981]

I don't really see the issue, surprised they would push Dzinziruk like that but hey I am fine with him getting a shot he went through a lot to get to this point.

That was certainly the best fight of the lot proposed though, people should be pleased HBO is at least trying to bring the best possible fight (at least of what they proposed).

[RSBonos]

This is a great fight, a real hardcore fans fight, so i'm not complaining but i'm sure that they are pushing Jizz as the opponent for ulterior motives such as promising him a TV date (who knows why).

I hope they do this for all the fights, the only ones they can't do it with are Pac, PBF and Cotto since they can sell PPVs.

Add Cotto/Mayorga and that would make a great doubleheader, but it's not financially feasible.

One worrying trend is that this will be yet another one off fight with no undercard...they need to lower the purses overall and add more fights.