by Geoffrey Ciani – Many observers were astonished when it was announced that the vacant WBO middleweight title would be up for grabs in a contest between rising star Daniel Jacobs (20-1, 17 KOs) and the relatively unknown Dmitry Pirog (17-0, 14 KOs). Most boxing fans viewed this as an easy route for Jacobs to win a title and not without good reason. After all, Sergio Martinez (45-2-2, 24 KOs) had already proven beyond any doubt that he was the best middleweight in the world when he beat Kelly Pavlik (36-2, 32 KOs) for the WBA/WBO versions of the crown. That Martinez was even stripped of his WBO title was somewhat of a mystery.
Things had suddenly become more interesting in the 160 pound weight class when Martinez defeated Pavlik. In addition to Martinez establishing himself as the man to beat, Pavlik subsequently declined a rematch and instead abandoned the division to make the jump up to 168. Despite being champion, Martinez is small for a middleweight. He is actually more of a junior middleweight, and is not really much of a household name. As a result, the middleweight division is now wide open and filled with young unproven talent.
A handful of talented middleweights found themselves climbing their way up through the rankings and making the transition from promising prospects into bona fide contenders. Fernando Guerrero (19-0, 15 KOs), David Lemiux (23-0, 22 KOs), Andy Lee (22-1, 16 KOs), and Peter Quillin (21-0, 15 KOs) are amongst those now in the process of making that conversion. Going into tonight’s title fight for the vacant WBO belt, however, Daniel Jacobs was widely viewed as the best of the crop of rising young middleweights. That all changed tonight, however, when Jacobs was pitted against Pirog.
From the opening bell it became apparent that Pirog was a very talented athlete. As HBO commentators Emanuel Steward and Jim Lampley both noted, the 30 year old Russian was not your typical stand-up European fighter. On the contrary, he was fluid and coordinated and exhibited good balance and great upper body movement. He was using a variety of punches and angles which seemed to have Jacobs a bit confused at the onset. He was also making good use of his feints which frequently deceived Jacobs and kept him off balance. Pirog appeared to land the better shots in round one and he actually managed to beat Jacobs up in the second, compliments of some well placed right hands.
In round three, Jacobs seemed to adjust and began finding his rhythm. He started using his jab more effectively and was moving well around the ring. This helped offset the body movement and feints that were working earlier for Pirog. Jacobs landed a flush right hand to conclude the third and seemed to shift the momentum in his favor. He picked up where he left off to start the fourth. He was jabbing and moving and sneaking in the occasional right hand or left hook when opportunity permitted. Pirog began adequately stalking him around the ring. Despite being outboxed, Pirog had his moments and was fairly effective at cutting off the ring. In fact, oftentimes a pedaling Jacobs would find himself with his back against the ropes in moments of retreat. To that point he was able to bounce off, move away, and regain control with his jab without incident.
That all changed in round five. About a minute into the fifth Pirog managed to back Jacobs up again with a weak jab and a couple of soft right hands without much behind them. This put Jacobs in retreat where he was once again backed into the ropes. That is when Pirog wound up and unleahed a picture perfect overhand right that nailed Jacobs who collapsed to the canvas. Referee Robert Byrd waved off the contest before he even finished the count, as Jacobs appeared totally out. Jacobs protested midlly, but it appeared Byrd made the correct call. It was a beautifully timed knockout punch that landed right on the button.
With the victory, Pirog won the vacant WBO strap and has now established himself as a major figure in a division currently lacking in big name recognition. With young fighters like Lemiux and Andy Lee on the rise, and established veterans like Martinez and Felix Sturm in the mix, there are some potentially interesting match-ups that can now be made in the middleweight division. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the coming months.
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