not a hope in hell imo. gabes one of my favorite fighters, i think his management should be shot for ****ing up the development and improvement he had going, they were K-9's mando and would've slaughtered him.
I have little faith in that happening. Ndam put more effort into getting Pirog stripped than he did at actually making the fight, and the fact that he has or at least think he has a rematch clause for Quillin won't increase his interest in the fight.
Obvious barker fan here, but i agree. Lol at how jacobs is seen as a proper fight so long after dp demolished him but barker is still seen as a soft touch. His skills are unappreciated by most to a ridiculous extent
Barker is the real deal. He took apart Kerry Hope way more impressively than Proksa did in their rematch. And Barker nearly went full distance with a prime Martinez. Not bad. ...but...Proksa is seriously undersized at MW. Look at Hope-Proksa, GGG-Proksa or Darren-Hope: Proksa either needs to build muscle or better - drop to JMW. Jacob's handlers are not allowing him near Pirog. Forget it. Warm-up fights to check his progress, gradually increasingly semi-dangerous opponents. Jacobs will be on a leash until a) a fight with Chavez Jr materialises or b) Martinez retires The most critical issue with Pirog might be his management. His latest fight with Ishida was for empty seats in Moscow. Obviously nobody had done any sort of marketing job. Pirog does not speak english, and he is as ugly as a proboxer can get.
Dmitry Pirog is euro level at best. A limited operator who would have a fight on his hands vs either Macklin or Barker. He's around that level. Only two guys in the middleweight division are world level operators. It should tell you more about the middleweight division and the level of opposition for the top tier fighters. Pirog gets knocked out by Golovkin. That's the only outcome i see for this fight. A brutal knockout win for Golovkin.
If Pirog is "euro level" it means Daniel Jacobs is basically a nobody at MW. And I do not think that is correct. We really need to see Pirog getting in the ring again against a respectable opponent.
It's always great to be bias towards your countrymen. The middleweight division is mediocre at best. Well, you said it. You could consider Daniel Jacobs a nobody because Pirog is euro level. I hate to break that to you. You will have to tell me why Daniel Jacobs is more deserving than a Macklin, Barker, or any euro level fighter out there right now. He's not more deserving until he beats a higher level of fighter than he's faced since being knocked out by Pirog. If i'm going to be blunt Danny Jacobs loses to Macklin and Barker. That's as blunt as i'm going to get. He got caught by a shot he could have avoided against Pirog.
:good Barker is IMO a top 5 h2h MW, and would give anybody not named Martinez or Golovkin a rough go.