By James Slater – It has been announced how Russia’s WBO middleweight king Dmitriy Pirog will make his next defence against Japan’s Nobuhiro Ishida. The fight will go ahead on May 1st, in Moscow. It had been hoped 31-year-old Pirog, unbeaten at 19-0(15) would face IBF champ Daniel Geale (maybe this fight will happen next providing Pirog wins on May 1st), but he instead goes in with 36-year-old Ishida..
Ishida, 24-7-2(9) has never been stopped and the former interim WBA 154-pound champ is well known due to his shocking, 1st-round stoppage of James Kirkland. But Ishida lost his next marquee bout, widely on points to Paul Williams, and he was unable to build on his big April 2011 victory. Rest assured, if Ishida can beat the feared, some say avoided (certain fans even have the temerity to suggest the mighty Sergio Gabriel Martinez wants nothing to do with Pirog!) Russian monster, his career will scale new heights.
But has Ishida a realistic shot at winning this fight? The man from Japan certainly has a good chin and he has fast hands and at least so-so power (ask Kirkland!) but he has never faced anyone like Pirog; a fighter who has looked nothing short of awesome in two of his last three fights. Since destroying “Golden Child” Daniel Jacobs in his American debut in July of 2010, Pirog has won a wide UD over Javier Francisco Maciel and he has beaten up Gennady Martirosyan, forcing his countryman to retiree after the 10th-round.
Ishida will enter the ring as a considerable underdog, even if Pirog has not been as active as he’d have liked recently. Can Pirog become the first man to halt Ishida? I wouldn’t bet against it. Ishida is a tough guy, who deserves credit for taking risky fight after risky fight, but he looks to be well and truly up against it here.
Look for Pirog to pound out a late-rounds stoppage, and then hopefully be able to lure the other middleweight rulers into the ring with him later this year.