Pirog über seinen Stil und wie sich die Qualitäten von Fightern anderer Dekaden auf seine Art zu kämpfen ausgewirkt haben:
One of the brightest boxing talents, WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog, first came to global prominence in 2010, when he entered the Mandalay Bay Casino ring in Las Vegas as an underdog and stunned the crowd by knocking out American Danial Jacobs, capturing the champion's belt in the process.
"I knew the only way to win was to knock him out. But it's a very hard way to fight, especially for me. So I just decided to box as well as I could and enjoy it. Feeling that atmosphere of a packed-out arena for the first time also spurred me on." 00:00 - 00:30
"When I was young, I was pretty small and light. My boxing technique was all about speed and throwing lots of punches. I weighed just 48 kilos then, but suddenly I started growing tall very fast. That changed me a lot. I suddenly couldn't act the same way in the ring. I was only 17 when I had to adjust to the changes. I started taking on board some new things, but kept all that I had learnt before. That made me a very well-rounded boxer. At the same time I was seeking my own, unique style. I watched tons of fights, all of my friends provided me with different videos. I couldn't get enough when I wanted to improve my left hook. I watched De La Hoya's or Trinindad's fights and studied the way they did it. Or concentrated on Mayweather's defense to fine-tune mine. That's how my style has developed." 00:30 - 02:58
"In the '80s the middleweight division was brilliant, with four magnificent fighters at the top of it: Sugar Ray Leonard, Hurns, Duran and Hagler. Leonard was my favorite among those legends, a very intelligent fighter. Maybe it's because my first coach used to say: 'boys, your boxing must be smart, it shouldn't be a brawl, it should be spectacular and artful.'" 02:58 - 03:28
"My current coaches, Vyacheslav Nepogodin and Viktor Petrochenko, taught me a lot about the art of defense. That's so-called old school boxing. The sport is getting less sophisticated now. And there are just a few fighters who can do it. It's not just about great footwork and peek-a-boo defense but a protection that naturally prepares you to attack immediately. That's what I'm trying to improve on too." 03:28 - 04:37
Wer russisch beherrscht, hier das Original dazu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFPkXN37N2s