How good could Pirog have been?

My understanding is his career was derailed by a back injury. But in retrospect, his KO of Jacobs looks pretty impressive. Very educated lefthand. Good and tight defense. Clearly, he had good power. Any thoughts on how good he could've been? I forget who it was, but I seem to recall he had a big fight lined up before getting injured.

 

I believe he was supposed to fight GGG.

He's basically the MW equivalent of Ike Ibeabuchi.

 

Kind of weird that he didn't cash out either. Does someone have any idea how he is doing presently??

 

People forget that Golov-Pirog was a done deal. Pirog pulled out like two weeks before the fight.

Its a good question. He was certainly a quality fighter, and had he not suffered from back problems he could have been a threat to a Golov, Martinez, or Pavlik. I dunno if he beats any of them, but he posed a threat.

 

I was more impressed by Jacobs’ comeback than anything either of them did up to that point. I thought the dude was a total bum, but he’s turned into a really solid fighter. There was nothing special about Pirog.

 

I think Pirog was an excellent technician, but like all fighter's who's potentials are cut short, he's overrated. We don't know how good his chin was, which is why I favour GGG. If it was very good-great, then I think he'd have been an excellent middleweight champion. He definitely would've been GGGs best win - although that's not hard - and a legitimate threat to him. Pavlik too, if his chin was good.

I'd have favoured him over Martinez.

 

I recently watched his fight with Jantuah and although Jantuah was certainly not a top opponent, particularly at 160, I was highly impressed. Pirog's technique, defense, head movement and punch placement were beautif to watch. And he was one of those guys you could tell was highly relaxed in the ring, usually a sign of a good fighter. Watching it got me thinking, how good could this guy have been? Obviously, answering the question requires speculation that can err on one side or the other. But considering his win over Jacobs and some of his other performances, it's difficult to deny he had real potential.

 

Haven't seem much of him, but the switch hitting ko against jacob was beautiful. Heard he looked like crap on his following fight though