Pirog vs. Sturm in November or December

By Jim Dower: WBO middleweight champion Dmitriy Pirog (17-0, 14 KO’s) could be facing WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm (34-2-1, 14 KO’s) in November or December, according to boxing news from Dan Rafael of ESPN. Pirog’s promoter Artie Pelullo is reportedly in talks with Sturm’s management team about a middleweight unification bout in November or December.

Pirog, 31, stopped American Daniel Jacobs in a 5th round stoppage to capture the vacant WBO middleweight title on July 31st. It was a dominating win for Pirog, who many people thought would lose to Jacobs. However, not only did Pirog beat Jacobs, but he beat him with ease and showed a fighting style that looked a lot like Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Pelullo also is trying to match Pirog up against former WBO/WBC middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. However, it’s doubtful that Pavlik will want to take on a slick fighter like Pirog, especially after Pavlik was badly beaten by boxer/puncher Sergio Martinez by a 12 round decision in his last fight in April.

Pavlik will be fighting on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito bout on November 13th. He won’t be available to fight in December obviously unless he destroys his opponent.

Sturm, 31, recently beat middleweight contender Giovanni Lorenzo by a 12 round unanimous decision earlier this month on September 4th. Sturm has held the World Boxing Association title for the past three years, but hasn’t faced any well-known opponents during that time.

For some reason, Sturm has failed to take on guys like Arthur Abraham and Kelly Pavlik. It would be a huge risk if Sturm were to fight Pirog, because the best guy that Sturm has faced in the past four years Javier Castillejo stopped him in the 10th round in 2006.

Sturm beat Castillejo by a 12 round unanimous decision, but the win was controversial with many who saw it. Since that fight, Sturm has been able to beat the mediocre opposition that his management has matched him against.

Part of the problem for Sturm is that the middleweight division has been so utterly weak in the past four years. There just haven’t been too many named fighters, other than Abraham and Pavlik, for Sturm to fight. He’s beaten the guys that the WBA has ranked in the top 15, but there haven’t been any real challenges until now.

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