By Thomas Schlabe

Earlier in Voelkingen, Germany, middleweight Dmitry Pirog (14-0, 11 KOs) scored the biggest win of his young career as he absolutely dominated veteran and former title challenger Kofi Jantuah (32-4-1, 21 KOs) for their entire twelve round contest. 

Just 13 fights as a pro before this one, Pirog excelled the tough task to fight someone like the tough Ghanaian with such ease that it puts forth an impression that he might be ready for a title fight in such a short.

But first things first. Jantuah, now 35-years-old and about 3 years shy of his last challenge for a world title versus still IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham, started slow with his timing being off. That should have come as no surprise as his last fight was about 10 months ago. It was even harder to score a punch against such a movable object like 29-year-old Pirog, from Russia, whose style obviously resembles that of an American fighter.

Besides some fine bobbing and weaving pared with the coolness of a James Toney on the defensive side, the 5′11 boxer also had a nice variation of punches that usually begins with an unorthodox lead left uppercut and ends with his busy work to his foe’s body.

Pitifully for Kofi Jantuah, there isn’t much more to say about this fight as he was actually schooled with all of those assets I mentioned about Dmitry Pirog. Combined with the Ghanaian’s flat feet, a still granite chin and Pirog’s advantage in handspeed, the bout was destined to last till the final bell and only moments before it rang, Jantuah would land his best blows of the night, being 2 left hooks to the head. Still, the man from Krasnodar, Russia wasn’t fazed at all and gave back with his money punch – the left uppercut.

Scores read 119-109, 120-108 and 120-108.

Not only did he win the WBC International title tonight, but Dmitry Pirog isn’t really far away from a title shot as the winner of Domenico Spada vs. Sebastian Zbik (those two will fight for the WBC interim title in 2 weeks on the undercard of Sturm vs. Gevor) has to fight the cool Russian next.

Such dreams are most likely shattered for the man, whose fight was meant to be the main attraction. Still in terms of excitement, he delivered. Unfortunately, heavyweight Steffen Kretschmann was the one who got laid out by his rival Denis Bakhtov (30-5, 19 KOs).

Kretschmann (13-1, 12 KOs), a good and decorated amateur, started well and surprisingly fast when he landed two good 1-2 combinations and a left uppercut that momentarily stunned Bakhtov out of his southpaw stance. But shortly afterwards, the German heavyweight hope was on the receiving end. Which first looked like a stumble over his feet (as referee Salzgeber thought, braking up the action) was actual a daze that was caused by a right hand to the head. Although it didn’t matter as moments later the 5′11½ Russian vet again found Kretschmann’s weak spot, this time twice.

For Bakhtov it was another scalp of an untested heavyweight. For Kretschmann, it might be a learning experience but the hopes his handlers and fans had in him are out of the window for this moment and he will find it rather hard to build them up again.

At the end, let’s not forget what I would call “The Worst Feature of the Night”:

German referee Ingo Barrabas applied a double standard as he continuously warned Cruiserweight contender Herbie Hide in his stay busy fight versus Hungarian journeyman Gabor Halasz for excessive rabbit punching only to deduct a point from Halasz for holding in the very first round. He should know better next time around.

By the way, the fight ended in a 3rd round TKO after a clean overhand right delivered by Norwich’s own Herbie Hide.