Sergio Martinez needs to stop ducking Dmitry Pirog!

[Sadistic]

Pirog is a unique combination of power and slickness just like Serg.

Best fight at Middleweight.

For once I agree with you.

[UglyPug]

Martinez won't fight Pirog. . . If he would abide by the lessons his daddy, Antonio margarito taught him, he would .. . unfortunately, Poppa Tony's lessons have lost hold. . . . HAHAHA, "pound for pound people's champ" HAHAHAHA. . .

[mathed]

Dmitry Pirog has the style to make Martinez look like a joke. Unless he pulls a Barker and doesn't throw back and just lets Martinez pile up rounds.

Until he eats a few stiff punches. Barker didn't want to open up too much because he was getting wobbled by every 3rd punch that Martinez threw. There are reasons why fighters like Martinez and Pac make the opponents go defensive, they are powerful punchers....I could care less what HBO says about it. Martinez is a counter puncher, Barker didn't offer too much to counter.

[HeroBando]

Dude, I was being cheeky (you missed some of the sarcasm here). N'Jikam isn't being ducked. he also is no more or less deserving. Neither has huge wins. I think Pirog matches up much better with Martinez and could be a real threat. As it stands though his best win is over a fairly unproven prospect. I think he needs a legit contender on his mark to force the issue.

Right now, I stand seriously by Proska having a better top win than Pirog. Sylvester, a former champ at Middle, is a better win than Jacobs.

The Geale idea making the rounds yesterday is perfect. Guys used to have to have some real wins to get a crack at a legit champ. I think one isn't too much to ask before people start screaming duck. The real top contender is too punk to take a crack (Sturm). Pirog clearly needs another way to push the issue because, outside of message board land, he barely registers in the U.S. market where Martinez is fighting.

There are ways to put a champion on his heels and force a fight, and the best is to box him in with quality wins.

The sarcasm would be more effective if there wasn't so much revisionism around Jacobs. He was everyone's POY, best thing out of NY since Tyson. Woulda been strongly favored against the paper champs Syl and Zbik (heck JCC was a sure thing vs Zbik), now noone thought he was ****. And so Pirog gets very little respect from the pundits, the Ring has him behind JCC and Zbik, lol, I guess Spada was a better win than Jacobs. He gets slated for an unimpressive, yet easy, win over Maciel. You wanna be underwhelmed, check out Macklin's 2 bouts prior to Sturm, or any number of Barker's or Sturm's wins.

Now a proven mediocrity in Sylvester is a better win. Is he even better than Jantuah? I say Kofi has the better wins, and his losses are more respectable. The only thing Syl had was the paper belt, but I thought we didn't care about those. I mean, Pirog has a paper belt...

Just to be clear, I don't think there's bias here, I like Pirog and I'm just venting. All of us have our faves (Moreno, Hase, Mijares, Dz) and dislikes (Pirog). Not so sure about M Rosenthal, tho I'm more inclined to think he has a bias against principled thinking and consistency. He really doesn't belong at the Ring, BN24 is a better fit, tho I'm sure fighthype would love to have him.

[The Nature Boy]

Dmitry Pirog was ringside for the fight last night, and has repeatedly been saying he wants to fight Martinez.

Pirog is a titleholder and because of his spectacular performance against Jacobs last year, was better known than Barker. Yet Martinez chose to fight Barker.

It would be an interesting styles matchup and so a very enjoyable fight for all the real boxing fans.

Pirog should fight the Negro Williams, and if can duplicate the success that Lara had or exceed and make a statement like Martinez, then maybe his little whispers will turn into a buzz.

Right now, not deserving.

[crold1]

The sarcasm would be more effective if there wasn't so much revisionism around Jacobs. He was everyone's POY, best thing out of NY since Tyson. Woulda been strongly favored against the paper champs Syl and Zbik (heck JCC was a sure thing vs Zbik), now noone thought he was ****. And so Pirog gets very little respect from the pundits, the Ring has him behind JCC and Zbik, lol, I guess Spada was a better win than Jacobs. He gets slated for an unimpressive, yet easy, win over Maciel. You wanna be underwhelmed, check out Macklin's 2 bouts prior to Sturm, or any number of Barker's or Sturm's wins.

Now a proven mediocrity in Sylvester is a better win. Is he even better than Jantuah? I say Kofi has the better wins, and his losses are more respectable. The only thing Syl had was the paper belt, but I thought we didn't care about those. I mean, Pirog has a paper belt...

Just to be clear, I don't think there's bias here, I like Pirog and I'm just venting. All of us have our faves (Moreno, Hase, Mijares, Dz) and dislikes (Pirog). Not so sure about M Rosenthal, tho I'm more inclined to think he has a bias against principled thinking and consistency. He really doesn't belong at the Ring, BN24 is a better fit, tho I'm sure fighthype would love to have him.

I don't dislike Pirog at all and agree Ring has him too low. I have Pirog above both CHAVEZ and Zbik and could easily drop Williams lower (probably give him too much credit for he Martinez win still. I think Sylvester was more proven than Jacobs but have never said Jacobs is not a quality win. But he was a prospect and beating him was good enough to merit a ranking. It's not the sort of win that makes one THE top contender.

And yes. I think walking through Syl in 3 like Proska did is bettter as a win than Jantuah considering Kofi hasn't had a notable win since like 04.

[KickAzz]

Until he eats a few stiff punches. Barker didn't want to open up too much because he was getting wobbled by every 3rd punch that Martinez threw. There are reasons why fighters like Martinez and Pac make the opponents go defensive, they are powerful punchers....I could care less what HBO says about it. Martinez is a counter puncher, Barker didn't offer too much to counter.

barker said after the fight that he didn't really feel martinez's power at all until he got hit with the shot behind his ear which is really a placement shot which threw off his equilibrium, he wasn't hurt in the sense that his brain shut down like pwill.

that said, neither pac nor martinez are spectacular KO artists unless they are fighting the right style. it's the speed of the combos that make opponents shell up, not the power.

[KickAzz]

Pirog should fight the Negro Williams, and if can duplicate the success that Lara had or exceed and make a statement like Martinez, then maybe his little whispers will turn into a buzz.

Right now, not deserving.

that Kneegrow Williams is running back down to 154 lbs. it's doubtful haymon will allow williams to fight pirog.

[Tiozzo]

Barker sucked. How many times do I need to be critical of that farce for you to get that. Negativity? Not at all. I like Pirog and love the crop of Middles coming up. Golovkin is MUST see TV. I think HBO favoring Lee opens them to the criticism that they are trying to avoid seeing the Middleweight crown head where Heavyweight already is and, given the talents in place, that's inevitable. Unlike Heavyweight, this is a crew of entertaining, devoted pros. It's going to be a good time.

However, to get a shot at the crown, sometimes you have to put the champ in a position where real public pressure emerges. Pirog isn't doing that. You admit he came to the U.S. and beat a prospect...how about a real top ten Middleweight. Burnish those creds and really make the champ look bad if he doesn't take the fight. So he has a paper belt? Who doesn't these days?

My argument stands. You can try to make it about your ridiculous fixation with the Cold War or whatever other stupid ass, psuedo racist or ethnocentric horse ish you're on today, but Pirog has beaten less than other contenders at Middle. My Grandfather fought in the Korean War...shouldn't that mean I'd hate on Jung Koo Chang or Myung Wuh Yuh? What stupidity.

Martinez can't get away with another Barker. There's nothing Pirog has done in the ring that says next MUST be him and some, if not all, of that blame goes on what Pirog hasn't done since the Jacobs fight.

best post of the thread by far

[SCtrojansbaby]

Here we go again with this crap. Pirog isn't good enough to duck