Now mind you, the one and only time I heard of him was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2010 when he scored a massive KO win over the previously unbeaten Danny Jacobs on the undercard of a big PPV fight. With that win, he got some buzz going. I remember a lot of people mentioning as an attractive opponent for ANY fighter in his weight class but there wasn't much follow-up to it. After a while, I just forgot about him altogether. I looked him up on boxrec and he is still undefeated (20-0-0, 15 KO's), but has not fought since 2012. What...the hell?! Did he suddenly retire? Issues with promoter? Is he pulling a Chris John and staying overseas?
He just showed up on the radar and then up and vanished.
Awesome fighter and a big shame injuries killed his career.
Very special style combining slickness with pressure/ high workrate.
Like lampley commentated after he toyed with danny jacobs: That's one cagey, scarey athlete. Those counters he landed on danny jacobs was just beautiful.
After winning that vacant title from hbo's golden boy jacobs they did'nt even interview pirog after the fight, only jacobs. He was avoided and by martinez dibella and hbo seemed pist for him beating what they tought was thir new star. If it happend today with the new leader at hbo they would have inked a contract with pirog at once
Yeah he injured his back and despite occasional return announcements it's obvious his career is over. Can't lace up after 3 years off at 35 with a bad back and take up where you left off with his style. He would have been the perfect rival for Golovkin.
GGG vs Pirog was made at one point but Pirog pulled out with an injury. It's something people accusing GGG of avoiding boxer types conveniently forget.
Anyway, after the Jacobs fight, I was looking forward to seeing Pirog again. But 6 months later he looked very ordinary vs Maciel (completely unkown at the time, hasn't done much since), winning an 8-4-ish decision. His next 2 fights I never bothered to watch, I only heard it was more of the same. Then he was supposed to fight GGG in 2012 but pulled out and hasn't fought since. According to interviews he isn't officially retired yet but I doubt he fights again.
I don't think he could have beaten GGG or prime Martinez but it would have been nice to see him try.
Yeah he injured his back and despite occasional return announcements it's obvious his career is over. Can't lace up after 3 years off at 35 with a bad back and take up where you left off with his style. He would have been the perfect rival for Golovkin.
Wow, what a shame. I guess we'll be filing him under the big folder of "what ifs" of boxing along with Edwin Valero, Teófilo Stevenson, and the few extra years Paul Williams still had in his career before his unfortunate accident. Damn shame. :(
Yeah he injured his back and despite occasional return announcements it's obvious his career is over. Can't lace up after 3 years off at 35 with a bad back and take up where you left off with his style. He would have been the perfect rival for Golovkin.
All fantasy stuff now, but at the top level a LMW in Maciel took him the distance and Ishida took him the distance, it would be v.tough to outbox Golovkin over 12. I think the difference in punching power too vast.
Yeah he injured his back and despite occasional return announcements it's obvious his career is over. Can't lace up after 3 years off at 35 with a bad back and take up where you left off with his style. He would have been the perfect rival for Golovkin.
Had too retire because of numerous injuries including ****ing his back in training which ain't easy too come back from at all, probably won't be seeing him again.