If Dmitry Pirog was still on the scene...

the fight was signed pirog got a back injury which cancelled the fight

 

Pirog injured his own spine on purpose just to duck the Triple God! :-(

 

Truly spoken,mate! Good post:good

I would have favoured GGG but Pirog was a hell of a slickster.
I still remember quite vividly his impressive performances against Jantuah,Tatevosjan,Kodzoev,and Toygonbayev.
I also liked his style which was no "typical" Russian style at all.
He would have been a great opponent for GGG-better than any fighter GGG has faced so far,better than Brook,too.
A pity that an injury forced him to take early retirement!

 

Maciel??? Damn! He beat Kodzoev,Tatevosyan(in his 4th pro fight,and Tatevosyan is head and shoulders above someone like Maciel,the Armenian beat James Toney,A.Kranjc,Gogiya,Markussen,he fought Froch,Bute,Eastman,Gevor,Karmazin,and so on),Toygonbayev,and Jantuah.All better fighters than Maciel.
It was the was how he beat his opponents which makes quite a lot of knowledgeable posters think that Pirog could have been a serious threat to GGG then.Just watch Artur Abraham,when he was in his prime at middle weight,fight the African Jantuah,and then watch Pirgo fight the same opponent.
Nah! Pirog had the potential to be a great fighter but destiny had a different fate for him.