By Ruslan Chikov, at ringside
At the Yubileiny Sports Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, middleweight prospect Dmitry Pirog (16-0, 13KOs) punished Segei Melis (16-2, 5KOs), stopping him in the sixth round to win the WBC Baltic title.
Pirog was much taller and longer than his opponent. The pace of the fight was fast. Melis is not a power puncher, but he decided to trade instead of boxing. Pirog was throwing and landing more punches. Melis' face was taking damage after one round of action.
Melis started to trade punches again when the second round began. This time he backed Pirog up with a very good combination. The uppercut and right hand was working well for him. Pirog soon adapted by keeping his hands up and throwing counter punches to the head and body.
Pirog attacked Melis to begin round three. Melis was fighting back. Pirog was starting to land a lot of hard punches to the head and the body. Pirog's left uppercut was landing very often. When Pirog tired in the final seconds, Melis attacked with a good combination.
Melis started to box in the fourth round. He was not able to get away from Pirog's left cross and left uppercut. Pirog blocked many of his counters and took aim at his body. Melis again in the last minute landed a good right hand. Pirog was not fazed and threw a few punches in return.
Melis was attempting to get busier in the fifth round. He was still taking many punches in return from Pirog. In the final few seconds Pirog landed a very hard combination.
Pirog went after the body very early in round six. He was punishing Melis to the body. Melis was trying to block the punches but left his head open for Pirog's hard hooks. One of those hooks sent Melis down. He got to his feet and Pirog attacked him with more punches to the head and body to send him down again. This time Melis got up but he did not want to take any more punishment. The referee stopped the fight.
