Martinez ducked Pirog and now duckin' GGG?

He was clearly deemed a threat based on his performance and skill set. Have you seen the Maciel and Ishida fights? The guy didn't look like anything special outside of his one win over an unranked prospect. Macklin was the #3 contender (behind Geale and Sturm) when Sergio fought him and had 2 wins over top 10 middleweights (Asikainen KO1 and a 'would be win' v. Sturm). He'd also been ranked in the top 10 since 2009. Undefeated top 10 middleweight Murray was coming off a debatable draw vs Sturm in Germany when Sergio fought him. The undefeated Barker was considered the best ranked British fighter after Macklin and was called for the fight in short notice after Geale and Quillin turned down Martinez.

Martinez is 38 and trying to get his retirement funds together...he earned it...the division will be GGG's in a year or 2

I keep hearing the Cotto-Martinez fight. Spanih media says it's on for next june. What I miss here?Martinez is nursing injuries and probably won't fight again until next june. If he does fight before June it's a pretty safe bet his opponent won't be GGG.He has wanted to fight Cotto badly for a long time. It's a high paying fight that Martinez is almost certain to win.

Pirog wasn't and is now even less known now not sure what Barker was ranked but hey look what he did after that and Macklin was a ranked fighter. Barker was fringe European level at the time. Just because he beat Geale a few years later doesn't mean it was a good match-up at the time.

Accurate post ts. Sergio is a hypocrite.

HBO wouldn't showcase Pirog in any good fights - the way they would have done for Jacobs had he won. However, if Sergio or more importantly DiBella had said they wanted to fight Pirog, the fight would have happened. If there was ever a time for for HBO to force Martinez to fight someone, it would have been with Pirog seeing how the only available option at the time was Barker. The fact that HBO was perfectly willing to overpay horribly (2M license fee) for a crappy Martinez-Barker fight instead of nudging Martinez to a unification fight says enough about how much they were willing to have Pirog on their network. I mean fuck, they had no qualms with forcing Martinez to fight Dzinziruk. HBO obviously wanted nothing to do with Pirog, let alone with Martinez.

But why? just because he was on American tv and beat up some untested prospect? so that is justification for ducking if Sergio doesn't fight him? It's justification for ducking if Sergio fights completely unknown, unranked fighters for less money

Him recently fighting Sergio giving him a good fight before being stopped>>>> Anything Pirog has done. Pirog is probably most noted for just being talked about on this forum. Well yeah he got to fight Sergio and Pirog didn't. Duh. Pirog was talked about because that's the fight people wanted to see. None of the cunts on here had probably heard of Barker before he got in the ring with Sergio.

Him recently fighting Sergio giving him a good fight before being stopped>>>> Anything Pirog has done. Well yeah he got to fight Sergio and Pirog didn't. Duh.

So you agree HBO was blackballing Pirog and wouldn't even consider giving him a date, but think they would be willing to give him a shot at the biggest fight in division for a huge pay day? I don't see anything wrong with the Macklin fight. He was a top 3 fighter in the division. HBO wouldn't showcase Pirog in any good fights - the way they would have done for Jacobs had he won. However, if Sergio or more importantly DiBella had said they wanted to fight Pirog, the fight would have happened.

HBO pretty much blackballed Pirog after he destroyed their latest hypejob. He had no real choice but to fight at home. Lou Di Bella was too busy sh1tting on the fight whilst promoting Darren Barker as a huge event :lol1: So you agree HBO was blackballing Pirog and wouldn't even consider giving him a date, but think they would be willing to give him a shot at the biggest fight in division for a huge pay day? I don't see anything wrong with the Macklin fight. He was a top 3 fighter in the division.

He has beaten a few guys or at least macklin who is much more proven than Pirog since he fought Sergio gave him a good go of it but got easy obliterated when he fought GGG, its some kind of measuring stick but we have no real measuring stick for Pirog at all. Didn't realise a shopworn Matt Macklin was the measuring stick of worthiness. I apologise.

Pirog ducked his own boxing career. He looked good against Gennady Martirosyan but looked ordinary against JMW prospect Maciel and Ishida.

You have no evidence to support that, other than a win he has over a guy who's best win just occurred recently against Lorenzo years after being ko'd by Pirog. Empirical evidence. I have eyes. It's like saying we have no evidence of GGG's potential threat cos he hasn't beaten anyone.

quit saying that fighters are ducking eachother damn thats old. serg is not the type to duck. he has fought the best

No one was on here saying they were some serious threat and that Sergio was ducking them that is the difference That's because they weren't really and Pirog was. That was proved even more so when they all had success against Sergio

Priog had one notable win, that is all he shouldn't have even been in the Martinez discussion. Yet Barker, Murray, Macklin etc were?

Please name the opponents he could have fought without American TV backing. You just said it, he was injured. Froch and Pascal were two up and comers fighting for a vacant belt. Sergio was the middleweight champion cherry picking a fringe contender who was at European level at the time. And had only 1 fight even at European level which he struggled in. Barker wasn't Top 10 nor close when Martinez shamelessly cherry picked him.

He still could have done better than fight Maciel, Gennady Martirosyan and Ishida. Don't tell me these guys were the best available opponents for him. Please name the opponents he could have fought without American TV backing. And he backed out of a fight with GGG citing an injury, so why isn't he the one who is accused of ducking? You just said it, he was injured. And say what you will about Martinez vs Barker, Barker proved himself big time against Geale, and in hindsight is probably a better win than Pirog. Saying otherwise is like saying Froch's win over Pascal is worthless because Pascal had his best wins after their fight. Froch and Pascal were two up and comers fighting for a vacant belt. Sergio was the middleweight champion cherry picking a fringe contender who was at European level at the time.

HBO pretty much blackballed Pirog after he destroyed their latest hypejob. He had no real choice but to fight at home. Lou Di Bella was too busy sh1tting on the fight whilst promoting Darren Barker as a huge event :lol1: He still could have done better than fight Maciel, Gennady Martirosyan and Ishida. Don't tell me these guys were the best available opponents for him. And he backed out of a fight with GGG citing an injury, so why isn't he the one who is accused of ducking? And say what you will about Martinez vs Barker, Barker proved himself big time against Geale, and in hindsight is probably a better win than Pirog. Saying otherwise is like saying Froch's win over Pascal is worthless because Pascal had his best wins after their fight.