Golovkin in his first real test against Pirog

By Boxing News - 07/01/2012 - Comments

Image: Golovkin in his first real test against PirogBy Eric Thomas: WBA World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (23-0, 20 KO’s) will be facing the toughest challenge of his six-year pro career against Russian Dmitry Pirog (20-0, 15 KO’s) in a venue still to be determined in the United States. Golovkin is looking to get more visibility in the U.S, hence the fight will be taking place there.

It’s a good idea, because Golovkin, with his huge punching power, can become a big star in the U.S if his fights get televised by HBO or Showtime like a lot of the U.S stars. What Golovkin needs is an impressive win over Pirog to catapult him into fights against top guys like Sergio Martinez and WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Golovkin has been trying unsuccessfully to get a fight against WBA Super World middleweight champion Felix Sturm, but he’s found it next to impossible to get Sturm to fight him.

At the present time, Sturm is scheduled to fight IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale on September 1st. Who knows when Sturm will be available to fight Golovkin after the Geale fight. There’s only so many optional defenses and unification fights that Sturm can take before he finally is forced to fight Golovkin. But Golovkin may not even need Sturm if he’s able to defeat Pirog and get a shot against the winner of the Sergio Martinez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. fight.

If Golovkin can beat Pirog, and the Martinez-Chavez Jr. winner, he’ll have gone a long ways towards making a star out of himself in the U.S. Then all he needs is to knock off unbeaten American Peter Quillin and he’ll be at the top of the division. Sturm won’t even matter at that point.



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