Pirog very impressive in beating Jacobs

By Boxing News - 08/01/2010 - Comments

Image: Pirog very impressive in beating JacobsBy Matt Stein: Unbeaten Russian Dmitry Pirog (17-0, 14 KO’s) looked very impressive in stopping previously undefeated American Daniel Jacobs (20-1, 17 KO’s) in the 5th round last Saturday night on the undercard of the Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz clash at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jacobs, 23, was starched by a huge right hand from Pirog in the 5th that sent Jacobs down on the canvas where he laid with his eyes closed for a second or two before appearing to wake up. Jacobs then tried to get up, but referee Robert Byrd wisely chose to stop the fight at 0:57.

There was little chance that Jacobs would have made it out of the round had the referee let the fight continue, and even if he had, Jacobs just didn’t have a clue how to fight the powerful Russian. Pirog was making Jacobs miss with a lot of his power shots and Jacobs had to throw multiple combinations just to land anything. The only punches that Jacobs could land with any consistency was his jabs, but those were no match for the quick and powerful left hooks and right hands that Pirog was hitting Jacobs with in each round.

Jacobs started off the looking kind of cocky, as he landed a hard overhand right seconds into the fight. However, Pirog immediately began to stalk Jacobs, changing angles and changing his height constantly. Pirog switched effortlessly from orthodox to southpaw and back again. Jacobs tried to copy Pirog at one point and got a face full of leather for his efforts. Jacobs looked tight and almost amateurish, as he repeatedly would back straight up in a straight line while bouncing up and down. After the initial right hand from Jacobs in the opening seconds of the round, Pirgo dominated the rest of the round with power shots. Pirog showed really nice head movement which kept Jacobs from landing his power shots.

In the 2nd round, the referee blew a knockdown that occurred early in the round when Pirog landed a crushing right hand to the head of Jacobs while he was trapped in the corner. Jacobs went down like he was shot by a cannon but was held up partially by the ropes as he crouched. He was clearly hurt by right hand and the referee totally missed it, perhaps thinking it was a planned defensive move by Jacobs. It wasn’t. Pirog pounded Jacobs for the remainder of the round, as he stalked him around the ring and unloaded on him with big shots. At the end of the round, Jacobs threw a three punch combination, missing all three of the shots due to Pirog’s head movement.

Jacobs came back strong in the 3rd, bouncing and throwing lots of jabs and hard combinations. He was able to catch Pirog with some good shots in the round. Jacobs was able to catch Pirog coming in a number of times during the round and seemed to do a good job limiting the output from the Russian fighter. However, Pirog was making Jacobs work a lot harder than he had ever had in any of his previous 20 fights. And worse than that, Jacobs looked worried. You could see it on his famous and he was fighting all out just to keep Pirog away.

In the 4th round, Pirog continued with his heavy pressure and was able to land some big shots to the head of Jacobs. For most of the round, Pirog appeared to be getting the better of the American. Near the end of it, Jacobs landed a few nice right hands that may resulted in the judges giving him the round. But you could see that Jacobs was going to have problems down the road in the fight because Pirog looked so relaxed and calm. It’s like he had a plan and was going to take his time in carrying it out. Jacobs, in contrast, looked like he was fighting for his life.

Jacobs came bouncing out at the start of the 5th, throwing jabs and continuing to be stalked by Pirog. At one point, Jacobs threw a left that the referee thought was low. He gave Jacobs a warning and Jacobs touched gloves with Pirog, but Pirog looked a little annoyed by the low blow and quickly backed Jacobs of to the ropes and blasted him down with a big right hand. Jacobs fell down without breaking his fall and just laid there for a moment with his eyes closed. He then tried to get up after he came to but the referee decided to stop the fight anyway.



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