LAS VEGAS _ Danny Jacobs got a rude awakening tonight against another unbeaten prospect in Dmitry Pirog. Pirog looked physically bigger from the outset and delivered with more power throughout. He nearly put down the unbeaten Jacobs at the start of the second and then did it for good late in the fifth round. Pirog landed a huge right on the button that put Jacobs on his back. The former Golden Gloves champ and one of Golden Boy Promotions' brightest young stars could barely lift his head off the canvas. Referee Robert Byrd stopped it immediately at the 0:57 mark of the fifth round. Pirog takes the vacant WBO middleweight strap.
Pirog (17-0, 14 KOs) won over the crowd early by walking through Jacobs' big shots. Jacobs had his moments, especially when he switched to a southpaw stance but Pirog was undaunted.
Update: Judges had it 3-1 for Jacobs on the scorecards entering the fifth. Compubox numbers might have backed that up with Jacobs holding a 73-43 advantage in punches landed. But the heavier shots throughout came from Pirog.
Jacobs (20-1, 17 KOs) entered the fight as a huge minus-270 favorite but the beginning of the second round changed the tone of the fight. He got blasted by a right and twice dropped into a deep crouch. How his rear-end didn''t touch the canvas is still a mystery. He was in survival mode for the remainder of the second.
HBO immediately let Jacobs off the hook during the postfight interview. Jacobs with Jim Lampley, talked about having a rough time with the recent death of his grandmother. Lampley suggested it was an off night because of the prefight distractions. It looked here like distracted or not, Pirog is rough matchup for Jacobs.
CASAMAYOR LOOKS SHOT AGAINST GUERRERO
Joel Casamayor looks the part of the fight but he's nowhere near the guy who dominated the 130-pound ranks just seven years ago. The 39-year-old has a rough time letting his hands go and got blasted by Robert Guerrero a dozen or so rights over 10 rounds. Guerrero, 27, picked up a unanimous decision win, 98-89, 98-89 and 97-90.
The win didn't come without a late scare for Guerrero, who got floored with 1:15 left in the fight. Casamayor (37-5-1, 22 KOs) landed a straight right that dropped Guerrero to his hands and knees. "The Ghost" sprung to his feet and avoided anything big the rest of the way.
Casamayor, a former WBA super featherweight and WBC lightweight champ. was floored in the second by a big Guerrero right hand. He was also docked a point early in the round for holding and rough-housing.
Casamayor landed just 51 punches over 10 rounds. Guerrero (27-1-1, 18 KOs) wasn't much better with only 88 connects but he was slightly more accurate. Compubox picked up on the fact that Casamayor did a solid job of blocking many of the Guerrero attempts.
No comments:
Post a Comment