The Threat Is Real

Date	March 12, 2011
Venue	Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, Connecticut, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	The Ring middleweight championship
Tale of the tape
Boxer Sergio Martínez Sergiy Dzinziruk Nickname "Maravilla" "Dzyna" Hometown Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina Brovari, Ukraine Purse $1,200,000 $850,000 Pre-fight record 46–2–2 (25 KO's) 37–0 (23 KO's) Age 36 years 35 years Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) Weight 159 lb (72 kg) 159 lb (72 kg) Style Southpaw Orthodox Recognition The Ring Middleweight Champion The Ring No. 4 ranked pound-for-pound fighter 2-division world champion WBO Junior Middleweight Champion The Ring No. 8 Ranked Junior Middleweight
Result
Martínez defeats Dzinziruk via 8th round knockout.

Sergio Martínez vs. Sergiy Dzindziruk, billed as The Threat Is Real.was a professional boxing match contested on March 12, 2011, for The Ring middleweight championship.^[1]

Having stripped by the WBC after HBO declined to broadcast a bout between him and "Interim" champion Sebastian Zbik,^[2] Sergio Martínez defended his Lineal and Ring titles on the line against WBO 154 champion, Sergiy Dzindziruk.

Martínez stopped Sergiy Dzinziruk in the eighth round, knocking down the Ukrainian middleweight five times during the fight, and three times in the 8th/last round. In Round 5, Dzinziruk was knocked down again by a left hand just seconds before the bell rang. He got up smiling, but Martínez now firmly appeared to be in control of the fight. Referee Arthur Mercante Jr. stopped the bout at the eighth after Martínez of Oxnard, California, sent Dzinziruk down for the third time.^[3][4]

Martínez would next Darren Barker, after new WBC champ Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Daniel Geale, Miguel Cotto, Andy Lee and Paul Williams, all refused to fight him.^[5]

Confirmed bouts:^[6]

• Middleweight bout: Sergio Martínez vs. Sergiy Dzinziruk
  • Martínez defeated Dzinziruk via technical knockout at 1:43 of eighth round.
• Middleweight bout: Andy Lee vs. Craig McEwan
  • Lee defeated McEwan via knockout at 0:56 of tenth round.

• Featherweight bout: Javier Fortuna vs. Derrick Wilson
  • Fortuna defeated Wilson via knockout of at eighth round.
• Heavyweight bout: Sonya Lamonakis vs. Tanzee Daniel
  • Lamonakis defeated Daniel via unanimous decision.
• Welterweight bout: Abraham Lopez vs. Andrew Jones
  • Lopez defeated Jones via unanimous decision.
• Light Heavyweight bout: Seanie Monaghan vs. Billy Cunningham
  • Monaghan defeated Cunningham via unanimous decision.
• Welterweight bout: Thomas Dulorme vs. Guillermo Valdes
  • Dulorme defeated Valdes via technical knockout at 0:46 of second round.

Country	Broadcaster
United States	HBO

• HBO