Canelo Alvarez was one-upped by boxing’s biggest ‘what-if’ as tough foe was iced in five rounds by ‘Russian Mayweather’

Dmitry Pirog flattened Canelo’s tough foe before career-ending injury

In 2010, Dmitry Pirog faced what should’ve been the toughest test of his career as the 16-0 Russian was matched against Daniel Jacobs.

Jacobs was 20-0, and would go on to face Canelo and Gennadiy Golovkin, taking them both the distance in some of the toughest fights of their careers. Jacobs also forced Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to quit in his corner.

Jacobs also beat an opponent tougher than any other, as ‘The Miracle Man’ defied cancer to continue his career.

Pirog’s tough test, however, proved to be anything but, as he did what even Canelo and Golovkin were unable to do years later, and flattened Jacobs in the fifth round of their fight, picking up the vacant WBO middleweight world title.

Pirog fought and won three times after the victory, but his 20-0 career was cut short not long after.

In 2012, Pirog was stripped of his WBO title as he seemed set on a collision course with WBA and IBO champion, Gennadiy Golovkin.

During training for the fight, Pirog suffered a ruptured disc in his back, forcing cancellation of the bout.

Multiple attempts to recover and salvage the fight were made, but Pirog’s injury would resurface every time, forcing his premature retirement.

Fans of the sport have labelled Pirog as boxing’s biggest ‘what-if’, as the ‘Russian Mayweather’, who was inspired by Floyd Mayweather, bowed out of the sport with a 20-0 record and 15 knockout wins.

Pirog remains the only man to have stopped Jacobs. He is now a Russian politician.

Dmitry Pirog vs Gennadiy Golovkin – The stats

Though the fight never happened and will never happen, it remains one of the best fights to never occur in the middleweight division.

Golovkin had just beaten Makoto Fuchigami a few months before the fight was in negotiations, and was still four years removed from his demolition of Kell Brook and five years from his fights with Jacobs and Canelo.

He was, however, a prolific knockout artist with only two points wins out of his 22 victories.

Below is a comparison of both fighters, as they were before August 2012, when they were due to fight.

The pair seem evenly matched in age, height, weight, reach, and record, and it surely would’ve been a thoroughly entertaining bout.