By Vladimir S: WBA World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (23-0, 15 KO’s) was hoping to get a fight against the WBA Super World middleweight champion Felix Sturm, but the German fighter chose another avenue rather than getting in the ring with the hard hitting Golovkin. Sturm will be fighting IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale on September 1st in Germany.
With Sturm no longer available, Golovkin and his promoters at K2 Promotions quickly fell back on their Plan B, a unification bout against WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog (20-0, 15 KO’s) on August 25 in a still to be determined venue in the United States.
The fight is still yet to be finalized but it looks promising right now.
K2 Promotions manager Ton Loeffler said to Dan Rafael at ESPN “It’s not finalized yet but everything from our side is final and we look forward to the fight going ahead. We can’t force Felix Sturm into the ring with Gennady even though it’s the mandatory fight…If we can’t get the fight with Sturm then were looking for the next biggest fight we could make that with Dmitry Pirog..”
Golovkin’s World Boxing Association title will be on the line, but it’s still unknown if Pirog’s WBO strap will be up for grabs because he was supposed to be fighting his mandatory challenger WBO interim champion Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam next. Whether it is or it isn’t, the Golovkin-Pirog fight is still a great fight between to excellent fighters.
Pirog, 31, has had his title since beating Daniel Jacobs by a 5th round TKO in July 2010. Pirog has defended the strap three times, beating Javier Francisco Maciel, Gennady Martirosyan and Nobuhiro Ishida. None of those fights has been popular, however, and some boxing fans were beginning to lose patience with Pirog because of his lack of quality opposition. But fans can’t be disappointed with the choice of Golovkin because this is an excellent fight and it could be a competitive match-up.
Golovkin, a highly skilled and huge punching former amateur star from Kazakhstan, has defended his WBA title four times since capturing it in 2010. Like Pirog, he’s not faced anyone that you could call dangerous, but he’s still been very impressive in stopping all four of his opponents.
Golovkin has the power advantage in this fight, but Pirog has good power of his own. Pirog is like a slower version of Floyd Mayweather Jr. but with power. Golovkin will be looking to make his shots count when he is able to land his punches. Pirog will likely make it tough by moving all the time, but Golovkin should be able to line him up in his sights and possibly lower the boom on him at some point in the fight to get a stoppage win.