By Dan Ambrose: WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog (18-0, 14 KO’s) looked worse than you can imagine in beating little known Argentinian contender Javier Franciso Maciel (18-2, 12 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night at the DIVS, in Ekateringburg, Russia.

I went away more impressed with Maciel than I was Pirog, even though the guy fought an equally horrible fight – At least Maciel showed some good power and nice hand speed compared to the robotic and slow Pirog.

I don’t see Pirog ever beating a guy like Sergio Martinez or some of the better middleweight contenders in the division. Pirog is too slow and far too robotic to beat some of the top contenders. He’ll do well if they keep putting him in with guys that he can handle like Maciel, but if they put him in with a talented fighter, Pirog will get exposed badly. I noticed early on in the Pirog-Maciel fight that Pirog has a nasty habit of shouldering when coming forward or when in close with Maciel.

I saw the same thing from him in his win over Daniel Jacobs last year. However, it was much more pronounced in the Maciel fight and it really gave Pirog a big advantage. The referee finally got tired of it and after repeated warnings, he finally took a point away from Pirog.

Other than that, I noticed that when Pirog would get hard in the body, he’d look at the referee for help to see if he would warn Maciel for beltline shots or even ones that appeared to be above the beltline. I didn’t like the playing to the referee. That just seemed kind of wimpy to me. Pirog did not like the power shots he was getting hit by from Maciel that was for sure.

I think Maciel can be a good fighter if they get him to be more active and break him from the habit of just covering up like a sparring partner all night long. The guy has crushing power, but he just doesn’t throw enough punches. I like this guy as a future contender if he can get a new trainer and fix his game. I think he’s got much better physical tools than Pirog by far.