Pirog-Golovkin to be announced Friday

LAS VEGAS -- WBA "regular" middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan will announce his Aug. 25, HBO-televised unification bout against  WBO counterpart Dmitry Pirog of Germany during a media breakfast on Saturday at the MGM Grand, the fighter and his manager told RingTV.com on Friday night.

Rated No. 8 in THE RING, Golovkin (23-0, 20 knockouts) is coming off a third round knockout of Makoto Fuchigami in May, the same month during which RING No. 4-rated Pirog (20-0, 15 KOs) secured a unanimous decision over Nobuhiro Ishida.

RingTV.com caught up to Golovkin and his manager, Tom Loeffler, of K2 Promotions, at the Hard Rock Hotel on Friday, where former undisputed middleweight titlewinner Kelly Pavlik scored a seventh-round knockout over Scott Sigmon.

On Saturday night, WBO welterweight beltholder Manny Pacquiao will defend his belt against WBO junior welterweight titleholder Tim Bradley at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

"We brought Gennady Golovkin up here to announce the fight with Dmitry Pirog, and they're going to fight Aug. 25 on HBO and it's a great fight. We're not sure of the location yet," said Loeffler.

"But  Gennady's undefeated, Pirog's undefeated, so you have two champions fighting each other, and it's a great middleweight fight. We're really excited about it, and we're excited about Gennady making his debut on HBO."

Loeffler desired a clash with RING No. 1-rated WBA "super" titleholder Felix Sturm (37-2-2, 16 KOs) of Germany, but Sturm will face RING No. 2-rated IBF beltholder Daniel Geale (27-1, 15 KOs) of Australia on Sept. 1.

"I'm ready. I'm ready to fight. I want this fight. I know him. I know Pirog very well," said Golovkin. "I think that this is the best fight for the middleweights."

Photo / K2 Ukraine

Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com