If he fights tough, he can give Froch problems. But if he's in runner mode, looking fearful, Froch might just take Dirrell out midway through the title bout. (photo by Esther Lin)
Which Andre Dirrell Will We See Against Carl Froch?
By Michael Woods
On many hardcore fight fans' lists, Andre Dirrell is the caboose in the Super Six tournament.
Not enough seasoning, they say. Thin resume, they dismiss. Fast hands, yes, but not quite ready for prime time. Sure, bronze at 2004 Games was a nice bullet point on resume. But ‘04 grads Amir Khan, Andre Ward, and Yuriorkis Gamboa have all made more noise since Athens, while Dirrell's signature win is against...wait, give us a second, we'll find it...against Anthony Hanshaw.
But dig down a tad deeper, and look harder at Gamboa’s record. No stellar types leap out at you in his 15 wins in 15 starts. And truly, is Edison Miranda version 2009, Ward’s best “name win,” so far out of league from Hanshaw?
One could argue that Dirrell’s career hasn’t jelled in the eyes of TSS U because his promotional situation hasn’t been as deftly handled as Khans’, Wards’ and Gamboas.’ You may recall Dirrell took his time locking down a promoter, and labored in relative obscurity for perhaps longer than he should’ve/could’ve. Lord, the kid was wearing trunks with his last named misspelled as “Dirrel” on them, not something that would’ve gone down had he been attached to a top level advisor. Then again, when given a spot on a big stage, against Curtis Stevens on HBO BAD, Dirrell left watchers unenthused. Harold Lederman was moved to label Dirrell’s effort, which featured mucho running and potshotting, “the worst fight I’ve seen in my life.” Three fights later, in May 2008, Nick Charles was 180 degrees the other way: “Dynamic, absolutely dynamic!” the announcer said as a focused, fiery Dirrell, showing above average hand speed and penchant for combos, TKOd Hanshaw in the fifth round.
TSS-EM wonders which Dirrell (18-0, 13 KOs; age 27) will we see in action versus the WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (25-0, 20 KOs; age 32), of Nottingham, England, in their Oct. 17 Super SixShowdown. In Nottingham, will Dirrell be the hesitant hitter, the one who gives off a “please don’t let me get hit, oh s---, please don’t let me get hit” vibe, or will he dial in on Froch, utilizing a hand speed and mobility edge, with the aggressiveness he showed against Hanshaw?
In the opening Super Six Group Stage 1 bout on Oct. 17, undefeated former IBF middleweight champion “King’’Arthur Abraham (30-0, 24 KOs), of Germany, will face former undisputed 160-pound titleholder Jermain “Bad Intentions’’ Taylor (28-3-1, 17 KOs), of Little Rock, Ark., in Berlin, Germany, and Showtime will show it on tape.
TSS looks ahead to October curious whether the sometimes reticent Dirrell might have been put off if he saw Froch’s showing against Taylor in April, in which he refused to fold, and stuck around, and waited for Taylor to fade, and dropped an anvil on him in the 12th round.
The lefty out of Michigan maintained on a Wednesday conference call that he has added elements to his training which will make him that much more difficult for Froch. “This is the first time (I trained in Big Bear, CA). I trained in Texas for my last fight. Big Bear is a different environment, a higher altitude, so I’m getting the best work possible up here. I’m staying mentally focused and getting myself mentally prepared.”
He gave off a super confident aura, an interesting stance considering he hasn’t been in as tough as Froch, who holds a win over Jean Pascal as well as Taylor. “I would do anything for the world title, so wherever I have to be, whoever I have to fight, wherever I have to go,” Dirrell said. “I’ll do anything for the world title because I know I’m ready. He’s depending on me being mentally ill-prepared. That won’t happen. I’m coming over there in top-notch shape and my mental game is sick right now. I’m just ready to do anything for a world title. If that means I have to go over to Nottingham to pick up a world title, then that’s what I have to do. Regardless, I think this is going to be easy as pie.”
Froch shot back, “I think hell and back is more like it.”
Dirrell didn’t back off. “I’ll tell you one thing, if I have to go to hell to get the belt, if I have to fight the devil to get it, then I’ll be fighting you to get that title. I’m coming over with my ‘A’ game and I guarantee you that I will keep that crowd quite and he will be at a loss for words by the third or fourth round. Truth be told, he has never, ever faced a guy like Andre Dirrell, and he’s going to see that in the fight. Not talking, not hyping myself up, it’s the truth. He’s never been in there with someone as fast as me, with a guy who can switch up like me. I don’t care who he’s sparring with out there. He’s on the right track, but he’s on the wrong train because they’re not going to get him ready for Andre Dirrell.” Dirrell did concede later that this wouldn’t be a rest and recreation junket to England. “If I’m not careful, like I said, Carl Froch is a very powerful puncher,” he said. “I take nothing from him. It’s going to be a heck of a fight.”
And Froch took nothing away from himself on the call. At one point he threw out some hardcore BS, in fact, when he said, “That’s why all the boxing press in the world has got me as the favorite” in reference to his one punch power. Kessler has been tabbed as the favorite by a good 85% of pundits, I’d say, for the record.
TSS-EM was slightly taken aback when Dirrell admitted nobody has been tougher for him than Victor Oganov. They met in November 2008, and Dirrell scored a TKO6 win. But Oganov is a severely limited boxer, on the crude side, with not much more going for him than above-average power. “Nobody has ever pressured me as hard as he did,” Dirrell said. “I had to prove myself then and I stopped him in six. He’s a lot shorter than Carl Froch, but if you pay attention, it’s harder to hit shorter guys, on top of the defense that he has, I broke through that.”
Can he break through into the upper class of the division against a man who has had to dig deeper as a pro, and succeeded in that regard? Against a man with legitimately heavy hands? TSS-EM leans toward Froch, believing that Dirrell would have to fight 12 rounds of super slick pugilism, virtually mistake free, and thinks that is asking too much in his 19th fight as a pro. Your take, please, TSS U.
SPEEDBAG Dirrell gave a good showing in the candor department. Asked to assess the Abraham-Taylor clash, he said: “Jermain Taylor has to come in shape. Jermain has to come ready and he has to come prepared. He can win it if he outboxes him, but if not, Arthur Abraham will make easy work of him.”
Andre's critique's will be silenced!
Thursday Oct 1, 2009 12:28:00 PM
Radam G, a most humble PacManite:
Nice piece, SuperEditor Mike! Nick Charles said it right. Harold Letterman is getting long in the tooth, and is a large part of HBO Jabberwocky and humbuggery. Dirrell is a 100 percent ready. If he is right about the mental part, he will clean Froch's clock. Andre is going to be peckin' and pokin.' At him the crowd is to be heckling. The boxing judges will be giving Froch every round as a token. But to no avail. Dirrell punches will rain like hail. And in the end, the cheatin' judges and Froch will fail. And the new WBC Supermiddleweighthtt champeeeeooooonnnn of the Worrrrlllllld -- Andrrreeee DDDDiiiirrrrrrrreeeeeellllllllllllllll! Holla!
Thursday Oct 1, 2009 02:09:32 PM
rudy:
Andre's speed, power, and counter punching skill are being over looked going into this fight. Everybody seems to think Froch will walk right through him, they got another thing coming. The Matrix is at his best when his opponent presses forward and exchanges with him, add the the fact that Froch is easy to hit. I'm thinking The Matrix gets a mid round stoppage in the UK.
Thursday Oct 1, 2009 02:30:08 PM
brownsugar:
when Andre fought Curtis Stevens,... it was a crossroads fight,.. Curtis had something like 21 KO's out of 20 fights,..and Curtis had built a rep out of stopping nearly everybody he fought,... I would have to say that Curtis,... while his boxing abilities are somewhat limited,.. he hits as hard or harder than anybody in the super six,... it was to Dirrells credit that he even had the legs to get up and run after being dropped hard,.. Showtime had a "Come to Jesus" Meeting with Dirrell in which he was warned,.. "never to stink out their boxing show again",.. and since then Dirrell has complied,.. I think Dirrell has the motivation,.. and work ethic to go far beyond his experience,.. and he sounds more confident as the fight grows closer,... no doubt that Being in Big Bear is a huge benefit,.. one thing Dirrell said that seemed encouraging to me,.. was after JT's loss against Froch,.. Dirrell said he couldn't comprehend how JT couldn't go 12 strong rounds,.. that tells me that he knows he can finish a 12 round fight with room to spare,... look forward to the bout,..will declare my prediction as it moves closer...
Thursday Oct 1, 2009 02:50:01 PM
AFN sorry he was late for the Pavlik vs Williams article:
Dirrell will box the pants off Froch, ala Taylor, but won't run out of steam and get caught, winning a very nice UD, thank you very much. EL TOONOY
Thursday Oct 1, 2009 05:39:14 PM
Yuvie:
Dirrell is probably being touted as the weakest link in the Super Six tourney by most but I really think Froch deserves that mark. No doubt he looked awful against Taylor but I still feel a lot of that was down to nerves. He got the job done in the end. This fight is a different kettle of fish. For one, it's over here. I think that Froch might just win this though even I think that's a crazy prediction. I just have a feeling.
Thursday Oct 1, 2009 05:51:07 PM
Isaiah:
I had a feeling about Marquez in the Mayweather fight, but I was still smart enough to pick Mayweather. Andre Dirrell will KO the man who got lucky against Jermaine Taylor. Carl Froch is going down!
Thursday Oct 1, 2009 10:44:44 PM
gibola:
Froch too strong, too consistent, too powerful, too good a chin. Dirrell wins a few round early then gets stopped in 7 or 8 rounds. Conclusive win for Froch.
Friday Oct 2, 2009 06:32:08 AM
steadadelcia:
Froch didn't say he was favourite to with the super six but rightly pointed out that he's favourite to win this match up, and to a certain extent he is expected to win. dirrell has a good skill set but Froch has a granite chin. just not seen enough from the American to suggest that he can stop the champ in his own back garden, judges n' all. Dirrells best bet is to fight from range, but even so i don't think that will stop froch cutting the ring off and at least looking dangerous, which is all the judges will need to see to give him the win.
Friday Oct 2, 2009 06:37:25 AM
Fistic Fury:
Froch is my favourite british fighter, just because he isn't like most brits that just want to pack out home stadiums battering bums and has-beens, he actually does want to push himself to the limit, taking hard fight after hard fight, Pascal, Taylor and now 3 massively difficult fights in the super six and all that on the bounce. It's not often a fighter will have five big fights on the spin without fighting afew cans in between. I haven't seen alot of Dirrell but i'm only too aware of his qualities. I could be wishful thinking but i'll go for Froch by UD with a knockdown or two...
Friday Oct 2, 2009 06:59:06 AM
EM@stead:
“Looking at the tournament, I’d say just based on experience, pedigree and proven entity, I’d say Mikkel Kessler. He’s only lost one fight, and that was to Joe Calzaghe, who’s obviously dominated the super middleweight (division) for years. But, I consider Mikkel Kessler, and rightly so, to be a serious threat in the tournament. But, I’m the most dangerous opponent in the tournament and I think everyone knows that. That’s why all the boxing press in the world has got me as the favorite.”
Friday Oct 2, 2009 07:07:24 AM
MisterLee:
Froch exposes the hell out of this flawed fighter. I seen Dirrell hit continously and regularly by bums. This guy is sleeping inside of 6 rounds. Pc out! Tss rules!
Friday Oct 2, 2009 08:13:38 AM
steadadelica@EM:
my bad, just watched it again, he does seem to think he's the favourite? not a bad delusion to hold in terms of confidence, might be a bit painful when he gets done by Kessler though!
Saturday Oct 3, 2009 03:15:41 AM
psilas:
How can anyone think Dirrel will KO Froch is just stupid.
Did Pascal, the WBC Lightheavyweight Champion?.........................NO.
Did Taylor the former Undisputed Middleweight Champion?..........NO!
Dirrel has NEVER been in at anywhere near that level and thinks that mouthing off will make him better than Pascal or Taylor.
Sorry Dirrel, you're in for a hard lesson in humility and respect!
Froch KO 7-10!
Sunday Oct 4, 2009 09:15:30 PM
Twenty three years later after they seconded Marvin Hagler and Ray Leonard in Las Vegas, Goody Petronelli and Angelo Dundee crossed paths again. This time, it was at Foxwoods. Photo/friend of TSS "The Iceman" John Scully reports there were only pleasantries exchanged. Goody didn't debate the split decision victory enjoyed by Leonard, which to this day Hagler disputes.
The Team 
Headlines 
Community 
Multimedia 
Information 
Boxing Forum 
