Sergiy Dzinziruk-Daniel Dawson: Is Dzinziruk's Win Too Little, TooLate?

Sergiy Dzinziruk made his American debut tonight on Shobox against Australian Daniel Dawson and retained his WBO light middleweight title. He dominated a dull fight and won by TKO 10.

Dawson was there to win, but he was clearly outclassed by Dzinziruk. I take my hat off to Dawson as he was one tough hombre.

Dzinziruk controlled the fight easily from rounds one through six. He stepped on the pedal some more starting in round seven, but he never put Dawson in serious trouble.

The referee stopped the fight in round 10 after Dzinziruk landed some solid punches and Dawson didn’t throw back. It was a mercy stoppage more than anything.

He had Dawson bleeding from the mouth and also caused bruising and a slight cut under his left eye.

Dzinziruk is considered by many to be the top 154 pound fighter in the world. This was my first look at him, and I can see why.

He fights in a textbook European style and does it beautifully. He has one of the best jabs in boxing today and fights behind it almost exclusively.

He doesn’t want to fight on the inside and uses great footwork and clinching to avoid infighting. He kept his eyes right on Dawson’s chest and never seemed to get ruffled.

Dzinziruk had a nice tight defense and didn’t catch many clean shots. I was also very impressed with his footwork and he used it to stay out of any trouble.

Overall he looked extremely good but he didn’t take a chance to end this fight. He was totally outclassing Dawson and if he stepped on the pedal he could of knocked him out.

Cursing your way to an easy without taking many chances isn’t a way to endear yourself to American fans. Just ask the Brothers Klitschko.

His power also remains a question. He has 22 knockouts in 37 wins but his power wasn’t on display tonight.

With wins over Daniel Santos (UD 12), Sebastian Andres Lujan (UD 12), Lukas Konecny (MD 12), and Joel Julio (UD 12) he has a strong claim to the 154 pound throne.

The win tonight was impressive but it wasn’t over a top flight opponent. Dzinziruk has crashed American shores and appears to have all the tools to rule the division.

There are some good fights that could be made at 154 against Paul Williams, Antonio Margarito, and Kermit Cintron, among others. At 34 years of age the question remains, is it too little too late?