by James Slater – There is no doubting the talent unbeaten Ukrainian Sergiy Dzinziruk possesses. There is also no doubt about how dangerous a proposition he is for any of the other name fighters in today’s 154-pound weight class. The WBO light-middleweight champion with the 36-0(22) record has been wanting a big, breakthrough type fight for a while now, but talked of match-ups between he and guys like Paul Williams didn’t materialise..
Now, though, the 6’0″ 33-year-old has called out another top U.S fighter – IBF 154-pound champion Cory “The Next Generation” Spinks. As reported by FightNews.com, Dzinziruk has put his name forward regarding the October 31st date that fellow southpaw Spinks is due to fight on.
“I’ve conducted conversations with representative of Cory Spinks,” Dzinziruk told FightNews. “I’ve offered him a unification fight on October 31st in Las Vegas. I know that he has not found an opponent. I am ready to fight him and his managers are ready to make this fight.”
Dzinziruk has left his former handlers Universum, and he is looking at signing with a new managerial outfit – of which he says there are plenty out there interested in working with him. An American debut is just the thing the man named “Razor” needs, and Spinks would be an attractive enough opponent to be sure.
Due to his problems getting himself a big fight, Dzinziruk has been inactive since his impressive points win over Joel Julio back in November of last year. If 31-year-old Spinks, who has also been far from overly active as of late (just one fight this year so far, and just one fight last year – one win, one loss) agrees to the fight it will be interesting indeed to see how the tall and intimidating Dzinziruk copes with his speed and slipperiness.
Spinks, 37-5(11) has been stopped just once as a pro, by Zab Judah down at welterweight, and since then he has campaigned at either 154 or 160-pounds. He took the IBF 154-pound belt from Roman Karmazin, defended it once, and then moved up to challenge middleweight king Jermain Taylor in that unforgettably dull May 2007 fight. Then, Cory dropped back down to defend his IBF light-middleweight strap, but was upset by veteran Verno Phillips. Then, in his last fight back in April, Spinks regained the IBF belt with a close points win over Deandre Latimore.
Will Spinks take the risky fight Dzinziruk has offered him? Or will the former world welterweight ruler take a pass? “Razor” has to know that time is slowly but surely running out on him at age 33. He wants this fight, he is willing to take the fight on American soil; the rest, it seems, is up to Spinks.
Who would win? Either way, a close, high quality and likely engrossing fight would take place. Let’s hope it happens.