by Pavel Yakovlev – Dmitry Pirog retained his WBO world middleweight title in Ekaterinburg, Russia, today with a dominant but unimpressive decision over Javier Francisco Maciel. Pirog controlled the action throughout with probing left jabs, well-placed body punches, sneaky uppercuts to the head, and by using airtight defense. Nonetheless, Pirog’s performance was inferior to that he displayed last summer, when he won his title with a spectacular knockout over Danny Jacobs. The Russian champion’s timing seemed slightly off, and his punches lacked their usual snap. Most likely Pirog was ring rusty from not having fought in the eight months since beating Jacobs, and thus did not display his full ability against Maciel.
This correspondent scored the bout 118-110 for Pirog, who was deducted a point in the tenth for illegally pushing with his shoulder at close quarters. The judges’ cards seemed inappropriately close, favoring the champion by margins of 115-112, 117-112, and 115-111. Maciel did very little today, aside from unleashing a few spirited offensives in which he generally missed with heavy punches. Indeed, the challenger’s objective seemed to be surviving, not winning. An explanation for Maciel’s reticence may lay in the fact that today’s bout marked his first on the world stage. Quite possibly Maciel and his handlers regarded the fight as just a chance to develop self-confidence and experience, and to show the world that the Argentine can survive until the final bell against the world’s best middleweights..
The opening rounds were slow, with both fighters feeling each other out. The difference between the pair, however, was that Pirog was sensing how to land punches, while Maciel was figuring out how to avoid action. The tempo unfolded as if predetermined by a script. Pirog jabbed to the head, followed by straight rights to the body. Maciel danced away and kept his guard high. Patiently, Pirog stalked the challenger, trying to provoke a response. Maciel, for his part, was unwavering in playing defense. Pirog won rounds one and two with his steady jab. The only significant punch landed by either fighter occurred in the second, when Maciel took a sharp left hook to the ribs.
Maciel finally opened up late in the third, winging a series of fast, hard lefts and rights at the champion’s head. Pirog had no problem slipping all the punches, however, and easily took the round by dint of his accurate jabs and body punching. In the fourth, Pirog punctuated his dominance by landing a sharp, solid right to the head, which seemed to shake the Argentine. Maciel reacted by accelerating his retreat, occasionally changing gears by throwing huge, roundhouse punches that missed their target. It looked as if Maciel had no real answer to Pirog’s tactical mastery and superior seasoning. All Maciel could accomplish was to run, and to exude an air of psychological defiance by intensifying his dancing at long range and sometimes tossing bombs that only fanned the air.
Rounds five and six were won easily by Pirog, who continued to connect with casual jabs, occasional body punches, and cleverly placed uppercuts. Interestingly though, in the sixth Pirog’s attack slowed and his body movement seemed less intense. This correspondent wondered if perhaps Pirog was playing possum, in a calculated effort to bait Maciel into fighting back. Maciel, for his part, continued to run and block punches.
The challenger finally came alive in round seven. After being shaken by the best punch of the fight yet — a crackling right to the head — Maciel accelerated his retreat. Once satisfied that he was safely out of Pirog’s reach, Maciel made another defiant gesture, dropping his hands to waist as if to suggest that he was not hurt. This time, however, Maciel followed up by unleashing his most effective offensive of the bout. The Argentine found his target when he threw a quick left and right to the head, and then sprang to the attack and connected with several hard, thudding body punches. Pirog shifted into full retreat, dodging most of the challenger’s blows. Nonetheless, Maciel’s surprising display of aggression, for the first time, broke Pirog’s tactical dominance of the fight. The challenger’s spirited punching display enabled him to share points in this round on this correspondent’s scorecard.
Maciel had an even stronger round in the eighth. After taking a few hard whacks in the ribcage, Maciel assumed the offensive. Swinging hard shots to the head and the body, Maciel forced the champion onto the defensive. Pirog dodged most of the challenger’s blows, but did absorb several hurtful punches to the ribs. Maciel was now the hunter, and Pirog was focused on safety, keeping his guard high and stepping back to avoid getting hit. Pirog was never in trouble, but he was conceding ground and initiative to Maciel. The eighth was unquestionably won by the Argentine.
Pirog returned to form in the ninth, though, leaving no doubt as to who was the boss in the ring. Moving forward and pecking away with his jab, Pirog soon forced Maciel to revert to survival mode. A crackling right to the head snapped Maciel’s head back, and a few well-placed, hurtful body punches gave this round to the champion. In each of the final rounds, Maciel stayed on the run, occasionally fighting back with roundhouse punches that missed the Russian’s head. Pirog continued to pile up points with his jab, uppercuts, and bodypunches until the final bell.
Curiously, in the tenth Pirog was deducted a point by the referee for roughhousing. Apparently the referee disapproved of Pirog’s aggressive use of his shoulder while forcing the action on the inside. This correspondent, however, believes that the referee’s point deduction was unnecessary. Pirog’s shouldering was no worse than that often seen in world-class ring competition. In fact, given Maciel’s general reluctance to fight, Pirog may have been justified in playing rough on in the inside in an effort to force some exchanges.
No doubt Pirog will take some flack from scribes and fans for failing to dispatch his obviously inferior challenger. Some observers may even claim that Pirog had a tough fight today, which is hogwash as far as this correspondent is concerned. Truth be told, Pirog did not look great today. But to be fair, almost anyone would have had difficulty performing brilliantly against a defensive-minded opponent like Maciel. It must not be overlooked that the champion’s tactical dominance was almost never broken during the match. That Pirog would win was never in doubt. The champion’s only real problem was finding a way to unlock Maciel’s guard, in order to snatch an impressive kayo victory in a fight that was otherwise destined to be an easy but unspectacular points win. Perhaps the world’s expectations were unreasonably high for Pirog today. Whatever the case, his record now stands at 18-0 (14 KO’s).
For Maciel, today’s result must taste sweet: a moral victory obtained because he heard the final bell against the formidable champion. In watching Maciel survive round after round, this writer sensed that the Argentine grew in self-confidence as the fight progressed, even though he stood no chance of winning. Maciel seemed to be proving something to himself: that he could share the ring with a much better fighter and not get knocked out. A professional since 2007, Maciel falls to 18-2 (12 KO’s), and can take pride in having fought competently against the first world-class foe he has ever met.