Quote Originally Posted by Spicoli View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Ivan Zhelezo View Post
Golovkin was lucky that Dmitry Pirog was forced to withdraw due to injury in 2012. His career could have turned out very differently after Pirog dismantled him in 12 rounds.
But we can only look at what a man went on to do and what a man did not. Hypotheticals and woulda-shoulda unknowns get the best of us. Not as if Golovkin was hiding under his bed and avoiding the fight before Pirog took injury. But Pirog at the time was one of the most formidable mobile fighters Golovkin had on deck. And respect that he was willing to drop the belt to get Golovkin. It would have been a massive HBO event and introduction for both. I just never understood why/how Pirog disappeared after huge highlight KO over Jacobs. Such an epic win. We thought we had a new star but the ball was dropped in bringing him back quickly to build that fight.
It is true that while both Dmitry Pirog and Gennady Golovkin are highly skilled boxers, it is important to recognize that any hypothetical fight between them is speculative.

It seemed wrong for HBO to interview the loser Jacobs after the fight instead of the winner Pirog. They wanted Jacobs to win. When Pirog won, they chose not to push him & his last three defenses were in Russia. HBO's new management instead focused on affordable knockout artists like Golovkin & Kovalev. The plan was for Pirog to be the opponent for GGG's premier U.S. fight & the winner would get the backing. That is when Pirog suffered a career-ending back injury