Billy’s Boxing Blog

By William Trillo
Photos: Marlene Marquez

 

Newly crowned WBO Middleweight Champ Dmitry Pirog came to America with a dream and with his 5^th round KO of Danny Jacobs he took the bout into his own hands and took it out of the judges clutches which as it appears was the only way he was going to get the victory.

Much to my surprise when the judges scorecards were passed out to the media in attendance, Jacobs already had a 3 round to one lead and for the life of me I can’t fathom how that could be.

Fighting off his back foot and throwing a bevy of missed punches Jacob was struggling with the oncoming Pirog. Hurt and almost down in round two, Jacobs was more than frustrated with the little known Russian who is not your ordinary Euro-type fighter.

Pirog forced Jacobs to the ropes all night until he cracked him with a single right hand that brought a sudden halt to Jacobs championship hopes.

The knee jerk reaction from most of the press was, “I never saw that coming”, but that changed quickly and by the time everyone got to the media room it was all about, “Well Jacobs never really was tested, this was bound to happen!”

Please!

Truthfully, I think only Maxboxings Steve Kim and Pound4Pound went out on the proverbial limb by picking Pirog long before this fight took place. Thanks to freelance writer Julian Kasdin for giving me the heads up on Pirog as well. You can check the article I wrote last month to verify our thoughts. http://pound4pound.com/BillysBoxingBlog/2010/06/14/boxwork-orange/

As I said back then, this was not a well thought out match to be made. I understand the WBO title was vacant and maybe it seemed as though the home Country Jacobs would be able to sway the judges with a little help from the fans, but Pirog had fought better competition prior to Saturday night and it showed.

I don’t know that Pirog will go down as one of the all time greats, but right now he may be the best 160 pounder fighting, time will tell.

All is not lost for Jacobs but this is a major stumbling block on his road to a title. Fighting the same week that his Grandmother passed away didn’t make it any easier for the young man but he did not use it as an excuse. In fact in a classy move he went to Pirog’s locker room after the bout and congratulated him on the victory.

As I said before, Jacobs is a thoughtful and stand up guy.

Unfortunately for him he couldn’t stand up to the pressure set before him on Saturday night.

P.S.  I wonder if Cameron Dunkin still wants to throw in Sergio Mora now that Piog holds the belt?

Check out www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 2nd, 2010 at 3:54 am and is filed under Boxing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.