Dmitry Pirog

Dmitry Pirog has seemingly sneaked up on boxing fans across the world. Without a solid amateur background, Pirog has managed to remain low profile unless you follow European boxing. Since his pro debut in 2005, he was matched really well, fighting against several solid and dependable boxers, and won several regional titles during the process. In only his fourth pro fight, Pirog won the Russia Middleweight title. In 2007 he defeated Aliaksandr Vaiavoda by technical knockout to claim the vacant WBC CIS and Slovenian Boxing Bureau Middleweight title. Pirog went on to collect four more regional titles, and in 2010, he got his first shot at a title. On July 31, he faced the undefeated contender Daniel Jacobs for the vacant WBO Middleweight title. Pirog shockingly upset Jacobs via knockout with a hard right hand in the 5th round to win the title, on the Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz II undercard. After making his first successful defense against Javier Francisco Maciel, Pirog defeated Gennady Martirosyan by way of knockout. His most recent title defense was a unanimous decision victory over Nobuhiro Ishida

REGIONAL TITLES:

1. WBC CIS Middleweight Champion

2. WBC Asian Boxing Council Middleweight Champion

3. WBO Asia Pacific Middlweight Champion

4. WBC International Middlweight Champion

5. WBC Baltic Middlweight Champion

WORLD TITLES:

1. WBO Middlweight Champion

08MAY12 N Dmitry Pirog vs Hassan N’Dam

CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE TO VIEW THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT REGARDING THE BOUT BETWEEN DMITRY PIROG vs. HASSAN N’DAM

 World Boxing Organization President Francisco Valcarcel sets the story straight on an article that appeared titled ‘Pirog-Geale Unification Nearly Set’. He says that “No one can talk about a unification bout without a written sanction letter from the WBO, and for this bout there is no approval. There is no sanction. Dmitry Pirog faces Nobuhiro Ishida today in the Moscow, Russia. The winner of this bout will face the winner of the May 4th bout between Hassan N’Dam vs. Max Bursak within 90 days of the bout.”

01MAY12 S Dmitry Pirog vs. Nobuhiro Ishida

CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE TO VIEW THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT!!!

Russian boxer Dmitry Pirog will defend his WBO world middleweight title against Japanese contender Nobuhiro Ishida in Moscow next month, Pirog’s representative Nikolai Baklanov said Thursday.

The fight will be Pirog’s third title defense and will take place on May 1.

“The negotiations for this fight went on for quite some time and both fighters have been on an intensive training regime for long enough,” Baklanov said in an emailed statement

“Nobuhiro Ishida is one of the most experienced opponents in Dmitry Pirog’s professional career,” he added.

The Russian fighter is rumored to be lining up a unification bout in August with IBF champion Daniel Geale, an Australian with a 27-1 with record.

Pirog is undefeated in 19 fights, winning 15 of them by knockout, and won the WBO belt when he stopped Daniel Jacobs in Las Vegas in July 2010.

Ishida held the WBA interim light middleweight title for 14 months before losing it to Rigoberto Alvarez in October 2010, and lost his last fight on points to U.S. fighter Paul Williams in February.

http://en.rian.ru/sports/20120405/172632170.html

Date: May 1, 2012

WBO Middleweight Championship Title Bout

Location: Moscow, Russia

Result: Pirog wins by unanimous decision

Referee: Manuel Maritxalar

Judges: Fernando Laguna (119-109), John Madfis (120-108), Noel Monnet (117-111)

Supervisor: Igor Mazurov

Promoter: Banner Promotions

According to promoter Kirill Pchelnikov, Nobuhiro Ishida (24-7-2, 9KOs) is a candidate to face WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog (19-0, 15KOs) on May 1 in Moscow, Russia. There were rumors of an offer being made to Marco Antonio Rubio, but Rubio is ranked at number 12, while Ishida is ranked at number 9 in the WBO’s top ten. Pirog was close to a deal to face Darren Barker, how suffered an injury and was forced to withdraw. Team Pirog is waiting for the WBO to sanction the fight.

“In preparation for this fight, we negotiated with many of top middleweights boxers, among [Sergio] Martinez, Geale, Sturm, Murray, Bursak, Barker, Zbik, N’Jikam. All of the boxers were offered a substantial fee for coming to Russia. They were offered hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions, as was the case with Martinez. Some of boxers have just ignored us [like Felix Sturm], others made their own plans in May, and someone got injured in the negotiations process [Barker]. In the end, it was only with Ishida that we could reach an agreement for May 1. As for Rubio, we are very interesting and we can not exclude meeting with him at a later date, but in order to stage a title defense we have to choose an opponent from the WBO’s top ten. At the moment, Rubio is ranked at twelve and Nobuhiro Ishida at nine,” Pchelnikov said.

If Pirog wins in May, then a possible unification with IBF champion Daniel Geale is being discussed for August, and HBO is interested in televising.

“The other day I received a letter from our American partners, in which I was told
that the channel HBO is interested in this fight. Right now, Pirog must successfully make a defense, and I hope that the WBO will sanction the fight and everything will be all right, and we believe that after the unification bout will take place at last…..most likely in Las Vegas,” Pchelnikov said.

By Ruslan Chikov

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=51189

Kyril Pchelnikov, co-promoter for WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog (19-0, 15KOs), says the boxer is fully focused on a May 1st defense in Russia. The opponent has not been secured, but Pchelnikov is looking for someone in the WBO’s top ten. If everything goes as planned, then the focus will shift to finalize a deal for an August unification clash with IBF champion Daniel Geale (27-1, 15KOs) of Australia, which may be televised by American cable network HBO.

“Our main task right now – is [for Pirog] to defend his title in May against a fighter in the WBO’s top ten, whose name we will issue at a later date,” said Pchelnikov.” Next, we plan to stage a unification bout with the IBF world champion Daniel Geale on HBO. Negotiations [for a fight with Geale] have been taking place for some time.”

By Ruslan Chikov

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=51121

Undefeated WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog (19-0, 15KOs) of Russia will return to the ring on May 1 in Moscow, according to his promoters. Pirog last fought on September 25 in Krasnodar, when he stopped mandatory challenger Gennady Martirosyan within ten rounds. Pirog’s handlers plan to match him with a highly ranked contender in the WBO’s top ten.

One possible opponent being mentioned by Pirog’s handlers is undefeated contender Max Bursak (24-0, 10KOs).

By Alexey Sukachev

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=50108

10FEB11 Letter to Dmitry Pirog Warning (2)

CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE TO VIEW THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT

February 10, 2012
Champion Dmitry Pirog
C/O Banner Promotions

On July 31, 2010 Dmitry Pirog became the WBO Middleweight Champion with a TKO 5 over Daniel Jacobs. As he won a vacant title, he had 180 days until his Mandatory due date of January 31, 2011. However, due to his inactivity, Dmitry was given the opportunity to do a Voluntary bout on March 26, 2011 against Javier Francisco Maciel with a UD12 win. Some 14 (fourteen) months later, on September 25, 2011 Mr. Pirog was successful by RTD 10 with his Mandatory defense against Gennady Martirosyan.

As recently as February 3, 2012, Mr. Pirog made statements to Alexey Sukachev in an article printed by www.BoxingScene.com
http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=49218#ixzz1lypqvmNZ
“Pirog Waits for the Champs, Considers Possible Retirement”
Dmitry Pirog will seriously consider retirement if a bout with one of the middleweight stars isn’t secured in the near future. Pirog (19-0, 15 KOs), 31, the reigning undefeated WBO middleweight champion of the world, was featured as a hero during a specifically designated press conference to honor him as the best Kuban sports person in 2011 (Kuban is a huge river in southern Russia, a native land for Pirog). The media meeting took place in Krasnodar, just near his hometown of Gelendzhik.
“The gap of time between my last title defense (against Gennady Martirosyan), and the next one, has definitely been too long. The reason is that negotiations with possible opponents are just under way. They started immediately after I stopped Martirosyan and they are still ongoing I’ve raised the standard rather high and I don’t want to let anybody – myself, my team or the fans – down. Yes, I’m looking for the unification, I need it badly! I wish to meet other champions in the ring to unify all of the belts in the division. That’s what I want! It’s a risky business, you know, and it’s a bit unusual for modern titlists to issue such challenges. Modern champs are interested in earning easy money; they want to fight on TV against safe, barely live opponents, to score meaningless victories. I have never put any accent on earning money in boxing. I don’t need it that bad as I have some. Maybe that’s the secret of my success – I fight only to prove myself and I’m ready to risk. I’m prepared to fight the best of the division: Sergio Martinez (The Ring), Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (WBC), Daniel Geale (IBF) and Felix Sturm (WBA). But for various reasons those fights are out of reach. Those guys don’t want any part of me”.

– Why so?
“Chavez Jr. is the son of the legend, and he is well protected to speak frankly. They put him against those guys, who are quite popular but who are definitely over the hill at the time of their fights with the kid.
We tried to reach a deal with Sergio Martinez. I have personally flown to America. The people with Team Martinez said to me that he doesn’t want to fight such a clever boxer like myself. It’s understandable: if he loses, he will lose a whole lot of opportunities on HBO.
Geale is very much like me. He also struggles to get along with HBO or Showtime; the American cable giants aren’t too interested in him. They are monsters, they have all the money. Geale is fairly known in America, I’m a bit popular in Russia. I was ready to fight him in Australia but he again chose not to take the risk…
There’s no response from Sturm as well. He is supported by a well-known German TV channel. There were rumors the cable chiefs wanted Sturm to take a risk, to fight dangerous opponents, and my name has also been thrown in the mix, and I was ready to fight abroad but…
I’m not here to earn money. I’m here for the love of the sport. I will tell you one thing; I have never told it anyone beforehand… I’m not excluding the possibility of retirement if none of the champions will fight me. I’m ready to hang’em up if I will be limited to the present level of opposition. I’m fully sure I can make a bigger impact – not as a boxer – but in another role.
I have thought much about it and I feel that I’m very disappointed with modern prizefighting. It’s all about earning money, and I don’t want any part of it. For me boxing is a sport, and I won’t go against my beliefs”. Now, the WBO has been advised by his USA Promoter, Banner Promotions, that a date sometime in May is being looked at. As there is no contract, no actual fight date, and no TV commitment, this might extend itself beyond the month of May. Note that in 19 (nineteen) months, the title has been defended twice.

According to the World Boxing Organization’s Regulations of World Championship Contests Section 5 Defense of Title

“SECTION 5 DEFENSE OF THE TITLE”

(a) Each WBO World Champion except in the Heavyweight Division shall defend his title at intervals not greater than nine (9) months counting from the date of the acquisition thereof or from the last compulsory defense …

(c) The WBO World Championship Committee may, in its discretion, vacate a Champion’s title regardless of cause or fault if the Champion fails to defend his title within a nine (9) month period (12 months in the case of the Heavyweight Division)… complied with the WBO and ABC rating criteria.”

Also see “Section 20 Procedure When a Title is Declared Vacant
“…When a boxer obtains the World Championship Title or an Interim World Championship title in any category in a fight for a vacant title, he shall defend the title against the Mandatory Challenger within a term which shall not exceed one hundred and eighty (180) days counting from the date he acquired the title.”

Bearing in mind Mr. Pirog’s inactivity, having fought only twice in a 19 (nineteen) month period, he is treading very close to violating the WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests. Therefore, we are submitting Champion Pirog to the WBO Championship Committee for evaluation and determination and this letter will be posted on our website www.wboboxing.com in the internet.

Sincerely,
Francisco Valcarcel, Esq.

An unfortunate left shoulder injury will postpone a possible April defense for WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog (19-0, 15KOs). He was going to face former WBA-interim champion Hassan N’Dam N’jikam (26-0, 17KOs) of France on April 6th. The fight has now been placed on hold until further notice.

“I want this fight because it’s going to be very interesting. Unfortunately, it will not be held on April 6th. Just two days ago, I slipped and fell on the street right and hurt my left shoulder. Everyone knows about the current elements in Gelendzhik – hurricane, ice. An evaluation showed that my recovery will take about four weeks. I can not even run. If N’jikam is willing to wait four weeks, then we can sit down at the negotiating table. I would love to fight him and neither of us has a loss. If they want this fight, we are ready to sit at the table and negotiate. I will gladly give this fight to the Russian audience. This will be an uncompromising battle between two undefeated fighters,” Pirog said.

By Ruslan Chikov

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=49573

Undefeated WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog (19-0, 15KOs) is ready to face WBA king Felix Sturm (36-2-2, 15KOs) in any location – even in Sturm’s home of Germany. Pirog has been mentioned as possible opponent for Sturm on April 13th. Pirog is holding out hope that Sturm follows through with a possible fight, but he’s not sure if anything is going to actually happen with the ongoing rumors.

“Finally, [Sturm] has already started talking about a fight with me, although in the past he’s been silent on this subject. So, there is the possibility to organize a fight between us, although he had previously tried to ignore me. I hope this fight doesn’t just stay at the level of conversation, because I’m ready to act – even in Germany,” Pirog said. “If Sturm decides to fight me, I’m ready to sign the contract tomorrow. It’s important for me to have this fight happen.”

By Ruslan Chikov & Alexander Pavlov

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=48049

The WBO world middleweight champion, Dmitry Pirog (19-0, 15KOs) of Russia, has been trying to get a fight with WBA king Felix Sturm (36-2-2, 15KOs) of Germany. Pirog claims to have been chasing Sturm since 2010, when the Russian boxer shocked everyone by knocking out heavy favorite Daniel Jacobs in five rounds. In the opinion of Pirog, Sturm is more interested in making money and doesn’t care as much about furthering his craft as a boxer. The Russian champion was very disappointed with Sturm’s twelve round draw with the inexperienced Martin Murray from last Friday.

“We tried to negotiate with the Sturm immediately after my championship bout against Daniel Jacobs, but attempts to contact him have failed. It seems to me that Felix just runs from me. At the same time, constructive dialogue is possible with other top fighters in our division. Therefore, we agreed to a fight with the IBF titleholder Daniel Geale. Incidentally, the last performance of Sturm left me very unimpressed. In my opinion, the German is not progressing. It is likely, he became too interested in making money, and boxing, apparently, [has become a secondary] business to Sturm,” Pirog told FE.

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=46932

WBO world middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog believes WBA champion Felix Sturm (36-2, 15KOs) will struggle when he finally meets hard hitter Gennady Golovkin (21-0, 18KOs). Sturm is the WBA’s “super champion” at 160-pounds, while Golovkin is the “regular champion” at 160. The WBA ordered Sturm to defend the title against Golovkin, the current mandatory challenger, but the sanctioning body has not forced the issue to make this fight happen.

Based on Sturm’s recent performances, a controversial split decision win over Matthew Macklin and a close twelve round draw with the far less experienced Martin Murray, Pirog feels the German boxer will have problems when he steps in the ring a heavy handed boxer like Golovkin.

“I think [Felix Sturm] has ceased to develop as a boxer. I’ve been able to form this opinion on the basis of his recent fights. If he is to meet Gennady Golovkin in the near future, I think that it’s going to be difficult for him,” Pirog said.

In a recent interview, Sturm praised Pirog and called him “the most difficult” fighter to beat at 160-pounds. Sturm feels Golovkin is “very overrated.”

By Gregory Stangrit, Allboxing.ru

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=46898

In an earlier report on BoxingScene.com, IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale revealed that his management team is currently negotiating a possible unification with WBO king Dmitry Pirog for a date in late December. In the report, Geale (26-1, 15 KOs) said he was “90% certain” that a deal to fight Pirog (19-0, 15 KOs) would get finalized, with a Las Vegas venue being considered.

Pirog has now personally confirmed the serious nature of the ongoing negotiations.

“Immediately after the victory over [Danny] Jacobs when I won the world title in 2010, I asked my promoters to organize a unification fight. But, none of the other boxers wanted to fight. My promoters made proposals to various middleweight champions, but none of them responded. The only boxer willing to talk, is IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale of Australia. Like myself, Geale is not an American. And to get on American TV, he needs a big fight. That is why our discussions are the most realistic. It is possible that we’ll reach an agreement with him. At the moment, my promoters Kyril Pchelnikov and Artie Pelullo are negotiating with Geale’s side,” Pirog said.

By Ruslan Chikov
http://www.boxingscene.com/pirog-confirms-negotiations-geale-unification-bout–45171