By Ruslan Chikov

The world middleweight champion of the WBO, Dmitry Pirog (19-0, 15KOs), is expecting a tough fight from the former interim-junior middleweight beltholder Nobuhiro Ishida (24-7-2, 9KOs) of Japan. Piorg defends his title against Ishida on May 1 at the Sport Complex Krylatskoe in Moscow, Russia. If Pirog defeats Ishida, he will head to a possible August unification with IBF champion Daniel Geale of Australia, but the Russian champion is not overlooking Ishida''s challenge.

"Clearly, he is more experienced than me. He is taller than me, which is unusual [for me]. He throws a lot of punches. He pours them on, rather than throwing out power punches. He is sharp when he delivers punches. Not to say that [his punches are not] powerful, the punches are hard enough to shake an opponent or even send him down. This fight for me, to some extent, is a test - because the opponent has stamina, throws a lot of punches, has a strong chin, so I'm training for all twelve rounds. Plus, Ishida attacks more from the distance than I do, so I'm very interested in how the fight will turn out," Pirog said.