The highlight reel knockout of Golden Boy prospect Daniel Jacobs by Dmitry Pirog on the Juan Manuel Marquez ? Juan Diaz undercard has knocked some rust off the wheels of the Middleweight division.
Pirog?s victory won him the vacant WBO Middleweight Championship, a title stripped from WBC middleweight title holder Sergio Martinez. Pirog as WBO Middleweight Champion sets up a number of interesting scenarios in a division that has been stodgy of late. With Paul Williams in talks to fight Martinez in October, former WBO Middleweight Champion Kelly Pavlik has been mentioned as a possible next fight for Pirog.
If both fights were to happen and Martinez were able to edge Williams, either a Pavlik or Pirog victory would set up an intriguing fight. Pavlik attempting to validate his title in a rematch against Martinez or Pirog also trying to validate his title facing the man who was stripped of it.
None of the possible angles surrounding Pirog?s future were mentioned by HBO, the politics of boxing seemed to be dictating other terms.
After Pirog?s victory, HBO went quickly to a post fight interview with Jacobs which focused on the 2009 ESPN Prospect of the Year?s future and delved into possible reasons for his loss. After the interview with Jacobs, the telecast segued to post-fight analysis and the next fight.
Pirog, who had a Russian translator ready for an interview, was passed over by HBO.
Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports, pointed to the ?Cosy relationship? between Golden Boy and HBO as a reasoning behind leveling the significance of Pirog?s victory and softening the blow for Golden Boy prospect Jacobs.
?Golden Boy really fed him (Jacobs) a bunch of cupcakes, he fought nobody coming up,? Iole said. ?He?s getting all these first round knockouts and some people were getting excited by him, but I looked and I said he?s not beating good guys and I didn?t see in him the things I would normally like to see in a prospect.?
Here?s this poor guy with a terrific, terrific knockout,? said Iole. ? He wins the Middleweight title, one of the historic championships in boxing. You think about boxing you think of the three big titles, you always think of the Heavyweight title of course number one, the Middleweight title number two and the Welterweight title number three. Pirog win the Middleweight title and HBO just completely ignores him, pretends like it doesn?t happen.?
?You?re covering the sport, act like a journalist,? Iole continued. ?you?re obligation is to the viewer, not to bump Golden Boy up for the next fight.?
