By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
Denmark's Mikkel Kessler dethroned WBC super middleweight (168 pounds) champion, Carl Froch (above, at right), of England, by unanimous decision on Saturday in a bloody, all-out battle as part of Group stage No. 2 of Showtime's Super Six Super Middleweight World Boxing Classic before Kessler's partisan fans at Denmark's MCH Arena in Herning, Denmark.
Kessler was awarded the victory, 117-111, 116-112, and, 115-113, on the cards of the three, ringside judges, Roger Tilleman, Daniel Van de Wiele, and, Guido Cavalleri, respectively.
In victory, the 31-year-old Kessler rose to 43-2, with 32 knockouts, and improved his overall record in Denmark to 40-0, with 30 knockouts in a bout that will be shown on a tape-delayed basis on Showtime on Saturday night at 9 p.m.
Kessler rebounded after being dethroned as WBA champion after November's lopsided, technical decision loss to 26-year-old Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KOs), of Oakland, Calif.
The 32-year-old Froch slipped to 26-1, with 20 knockouts in a fight that Per Ake Persson, who was at ringside for BoxingScene.com, called "A fight-of-the-year war."
According to a ringside report by Ben Dirs of BBC Sport, Kessler was bleeding from a badly cut left eye, and Froch, from the nose, at fight's end.
Kessler was down in the fifth round, but referee, Michael Griffin, ruled that the man who is nicknamed, "The Viking Warrior," had slipped.
After a fairly evenly contested fight over the first six rounds, Kessler's jab became more prevalent starting in the seventh.
Kessler briefly pinned Froch on the ropes in the eighth round, and caused bleeding from the Englishman's nose in the ninth, even as Froch opened and targeted a cavernous cut on the Danish fighter's left eye near the end of that same round.
Froch was coming off of October's split-decision victory over 26-year-old southpaw, Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KOs), of Flint, Mich., who rebounded with last month's lopsided, 11th-round disqualification victory over Germany's 30-year-old Arthur Abraham (31-1, 25 KOs).
Dirrell, Abraham and Ward are all picking Kessler to rebound in victory, while only 30-year-old Allan Green (29-1, 20 KOs), of Tulsa, Ok., is picking Froch.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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Sabtu, 24 April 2010
Jumat, 23 April 2010
Carl Froch ready to take on Mikkel Kessler despite ear infection -- The Guardian
By Kevin Mitchell, Guardian.co.uk
Carl Froch knows there is more than his unbeaten record and WBC super-middleweight title on the line against Mikkel Kessler in the quiet depths of rural Denmark tomorrow night. As he moves into the third section of Showtime's Super Six Series to find the world's best 12-stone fighter, he is seeking to extend a sequence of wins against elite boxers that would lift him above any British world champion of recent times.
After six years on the periphery of the big time, the 32-year-old Nottingham fighter strung together victories of varying types and quality against the tough young Jean Pascal, followed by a still competitive Jermain Taylor and the awkward American prospect Andre Dirrell – with Kessler and the remarkable Armenian Arthur Abraham to come.
If he wins at a packed Messencenter against Kessler, who gave Joe Calzaghe such a fright in 2007, Froch would probably meet the slick Andre Ward, who so embarrassed the Dane in Oakland last November. After that, depending on where he stands in the points table, he would again fight Dirrell – who was gifted a late disqualification win over Abraham but had looked impressive in the earlier rounds.
On top of that demanding schedule, Froch has also promised Pascal a rematch, which would be for the Canadian's WBC light-heavyweight title. If there is a shopping list better than that over the past 30 years or so, it has escaped the notice of this writer.
"He's already achieved his goals," his trainer, Robert McCracken, said at the weigh-in, where the champion hit the scales a pound under the 12st limit and Kessler weighed a quarter of a pound less. "This is the icing on the cake now, the next three fights especially. He's looking at the finish line and he can't wait to get into the ring."
It is going to be as physically demanding a challenge as the Pascal bout – voted fight of the year in 2008 – and Froch is against a seasoned opponent of proven pedigree fighting in front of 10,000 of his own fans, and a long way from Nottingham. This is the lightest Kessler has weighed in 14 fights over the past eight years. If he is nearing the exit after looking poor against Ward, there has been little evidence of it in his preparation.
"I'll need to be more of an animal in the ring," the popular Dane said. "I've been working on my footwork and have done 174 rounds of sparring. Maybe I have been too nice before." Not many of his 44 opponents in a distinguished career would agree with that. Kessler is among the best Europeans to have fought and won at world level at 12 stone, a former WBA champion who clearly wants to repair the damage done when he lost that title.
Despite an injury scare which proved to be little more than worries about an ear infection, Froch could hardly have had a better lead-up, either. There's nothing like a "mystery injury" to lend spice to a big fight and Froch created a minor stir in little Herning when he revealed he would be going in against Kessler with the sort of undisclosed "niggle" that has been almost a badge of honour throughout his career.
Froch prides himself on his ability to handle pain, from minor surgery without anaesthetics to getting through a fight with a broken hand, which he has done twice. This would not seem to be in that class.
Although he refused to talk about it, he is thought to have injured his ear in sparring and had it checked for any infections before being been passed fit to fight. "He's fine," McCracken said. "It happened ages ago. He will always have minor injuries because he trains right on the weight six weeks before a fight. That can make you more susceptible to small cuts and the like because he hardly has any body fat. It can make sparring a nightmare.
"But he has been in fantastic form in the gym and has been knocking a few of them over. He's been sparring with the likes of Danny McIntosh [English light-heavyweight champion], Colin Fish [the Canadian amateur star] and George Groves [the new Commonwealth super-middleweight champion]. George was really good, with a great attitude, but I pulled him out after a couple of rounds because Carl would just do too much damage. Fish, who is a bit of a superstar over there, went back after a week."
Source: guardian.co.uk
Carl Froch knows there is more than his unbeaten record and WBC super-middleweight title on the line against Mikkel Kessler in the quiet depths of rural Denmark tomorrow night. As he moves into the third section of Showtime's Super Six Series to find the world's best 12-stone fighter, he is seeking to extend a sequence of wins against elite boxers that would lift him above any British world champion of recent times.
After six years on the periphery of the big time, the 32-year-old Nottingham fighter strung together victories of varying types and quality against the tough young Jean Pascal, followed by a still competitive Jermain Taylor and the awkward American prospect Andre Dirrell – with Kessler and the remarkable Armenian Arthur Abraham to come.
If he wins at a packed Messencenter against Kessler, who gave Joe Calzaghe such a fright in 2007, Froch would probably meet the slick Andre Ward, who so embarrassed the Dane in Oakland last November. After that, depending on where he stands in the points table, he would again fight Dirrell – who was gifted a late disqualification win over Abraham but had looked impressive in the earlier rounds.
On top of that demanding schedule, Froch has also promised Pascal a rematch, which would be for the Canadian's WBC light-heavyweight title. If there is a shopping list better than that over the past 30 years or so, it has escaped the notice of this writer.
"He's already achieved his goals," his trainer, Robert McCracken, said at the weigh-in, where the champion hit the scales a pound under the 12st limit and Kessler weighed a quarter of a pound less. "This is the icing on the cake now, the next three fights especially. He's looking at the finish line and he can't wait to get into the ring."
It is going to be as physically demanding a challenge as the Pascal bout – voted fight of the year in 2008 – and Froch is against a seasoned opponent of proven pedigree fighting in front of 10,000 of his own fans, and a long way from Nottingham. This is the lightest Kessler has weighed in 14 fights over the past eight years. If he is nearing the exit after looking poor against Ward, there has been little evidence of it in his preparation.
"I'll need to be more of an animal in the ring," the popular Dane said. "I've been working on my footwork and have done 174 rounds of sparring. Maybe I have been too nice before." Not many of his 44 opponents in a distinguished career would agree with that. Kessler is among the best Europeans to have fought and won at world level at 12 stone, a former WBA champion who clearly wants to repair the damage done when he lost that title.
Despite an injury scare which proved to be little more than worries about an ear infection, Froch could hardly have had a better lead-up, either. There's nothing like a "mystery injury" to lend spice to a big fight and Froch created a minor stir in little Herning when he revealed he would be going in against Kessler with the sort of undisclosed "niggle" that has been almost a badge of honour throughout his career.
Froch prides himself on his ability to handle pain, from minor surgery without anaesthetics to getting through a fight with a broken hand, which he has done twice. This would not seem to be in that class.
Although he refused to talk about it, he is thought to have injured his ear in sparring and had it checked for any infections before being been passed fit to fight. "He's fine," McCracken said. "It happened ages ago. He will always have minor injuries because he trains right on the weight six weeks before a fight. That can make you more susceptible to small cuts and the like because he hardly has any body fat. It can make sparring a nightmare.
"But he has been in fantastic form in the gym and has been knocking a few of them over. He's been sparring with the likes of Danny McIntosh [English light-heavyweight champion], Colin Fish [the Canadian amateur star] and George Groves [the new Commonwealth super-middleweight champion]. George was really good, with a great attitude, but I pulled him out after a couple of rounds because Carl would just do too much damage. Fish, who is a bit of a superstar over there, went back after a week."
Source: guardian.co.uk
Senin, 19 April 2010
Bute's Win Further Calls Super Six Into Question -- The Sweet Science
By Frank Lotierzo, The Sweet Science
I don’t know whether or not Lucian Bute is the best super middleweight in the world. But no serious conversation about who actually is can be conducted without his being a part of it. In his last two fights, the IBF champion has closed the show with highlight reel one punch knockouts -- both lethal left uppercuts. One was a body shot landed on Librado Andrade, someone who nobody ever hurts, the other placed just under the chin of Edison Miranda, who’d recently taken Andre Ward the distance.
While watching Bute-Miranda it was clear that Bute had been hurting Edison Miranda with hard uppercuts to the body throughout the third round of their abbreviated fight. About midway through the round, a left uppercut identical to the one that had felled Librado Andrade for the count almost did the same to Miranda, who masked his distress by pounding his own abs. A moment later, another shot hurt him. This time Miranda posed, then charged with his head down, making Bute’s perfectly timed uppercut all the more potent. Edison thudded face first to the canvas. Although his conditioning allowed him to beat the count, he was finished; referee Ernie Sharif didn’t think twice about stopping it.
Lucian Bute has proved that he is more than a hometown attraction, although he’s certainly that. He’s consistently able to draw 15,000 people into the Bell Center in Montreal. He’s an interesting fighter, who doesn’t fight much like anyone else. He moves well in either direction, but he’s not fast footed. He has somewhat quick hands, but more significantly, his punches are sudden. Bute has a very good eye: he’s able to spot openings extremely well, and he fires almost automatically into them. He operates behind a good, solid right jab that is often followed by the straight left. Although he punches in combination, I don’t think that he systematically works out these combinations as much as he senses where they should go. This might mean that he looks like a bigger puncher than he actually is. The hook that Floyd Mayweather used to knock out Ricky Hatton might cause someone watching him for the first time to assume they were seeing a big puncher. Although I’ll give Bute credit for having more power than Mayweather, I can’t see these recent one punch knockouts as suggesting another Thomas Hearns (as Max Kellerman suggested during his interview after the Miranda fight.)
What you're seeing in Lucian Bute is, a fighter with a good degree of natural talent who is dangerous because he sees what's in front of him, and he fights a little scared. I don’t mean that as a criticism. It's one of the things that has kept him undefeated so far. He doesn’t freeze because of it; it somewhat keeps him in alert mode. He looked like he had a healthy respect for Edison Miranda’s power for the first two rounds of their fight. It wasn’t until he’d decided that he could get in and out with combinations against his lead-footed opponent that he grew a little less cautious.
This isn’t to suggest that Lucien Bute won’t fight if it comes to that. But he likes to dictate the terms whenever possible. He was able to control both Miranda and Andrade (another very slow-footed guy) with a double jab, a punch he uses to both maintain distance and to direct opponents. That distance is important to him, and it’s worth noting that even his excellent uppercuts are thrown with a scythe-like motion from what is a conventional uppercut. He’s able to get away with throwing them because of his accuracy and timing.
People undoubtedly would like to see how he’d do against Super Six tournament fighters like Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell, Arthur Abraham, and Carl Froch.
Since that’s not going to happen for the near future, I’ve got another suggestion. He should fight Kelly Pavlik. It makes sense for everybody involved. And even though he’d be favored to beat the former middleweight champion, especially after Pavlik’s poor showing against Sergio Martinez shown on the same HBO broadcast as Bute-Miranda, it’s not a fight without risks. Pavlik can always punch, even late into his fights.
The fight would draw a huge crowd in Montreal. From a risk/reward perspective, it’s by far the best fight Kelly Pavlik could take. He doesn’t need to come back with a tune-up or a confidence builder. His career is at a standstill, and he needs to jump back into the deep end and see what happens. It’s clear that things couldn’t get worse for him than they are now, unless he loses to a fringe opponent, which could happen if Martinez took away what remained of his confidence. Better to roll the dice against a big name, and go out on his shield if necessary.
If Bute could stop Pavlik, it would continue his ascent into the upper echelon of the game. He has a style that’s well suited to doing that. Kelly cuts and, as a result, tends to walk straight into shots that he can’t see. If he walks into one like the one that kayoed Edison Miranda, it might well kayo him too. The question is what happens if Pavlik is able to land his big right. He’d be smart to find out if he can do that.
Lucian Bute is not going to do well moving up in weight -- his body is well suited to 168 and he can’t move down. Facing Pavlik would be a good place keeping fight for him to take while waiting for the Super Six dust to clear. At this point, I’m not sure that Kelly Pavlik is much more dangerous than Edison Miranda was, although the benefits from knocking him out are far greater.
For Miranda, it’s back to ESPN Friday Night Fights, possibly as no more than a prestigious opponent. We know what he can do. And, unfortunately for him, we know what he can’t.
Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com
Source: thesweetscience.com
I don’t know whether or not Lucian Bute is the best super middleweight in the world. But no serious conversation about who actually is can be conducted without his being a part of it. In his last two fights, the IBF champion has closed the show with highlight reel one punch knockouts -- both lethal left uppercuts. One was a body shot landed on Librado Andrade, someone who nobody ever hurts, the other placed just under the chin of Edison Miranda, who’d recently taken Andre Ward the distance.
While watching Bute-Miranda it was clear that Bute had been hurting Edison Miranda with hard uppercuts to the body throughout the third round of their abbreviated fight. About midway through the round, a left uppercut identical to the one that had felled Librado Andrade for the count almost did the same to Miranda, who masked his distress by pounding his own abs. A moment later, another shot hurt him. This time Miranda posed, then charged with his head down, making Bute’s perfectly timed uppercut all the more potent. Edison thudded face first to the canvas. Although his conditioning allowed him to beat the count, he was finished; referee Ernie Sharif didn’t think twice about stopping it.
Lucian Bute has proved that he is more than a hometown attraction, although he’s certainly that. He’s consistently able to draw 15,000 people into the Bell Center in Montreal. He’s an interesting fighter, who doesn’t fight much like anyone else. He moves well in either direction, but he’s not fast footed. He has somewhat quick hands, but more significantly, his punches are sudden. Bute has a very good eye: he’s able to spot openings extremely well, and he fires almost automatically into them. He operates behind a good, solid right jab that is often followed by the straight left. Although he punches in combination, I don’t think that he systematically works out these combinations as much as he senses where they should go. This might mean that he looks like a bigger puncher than he actually is. The hook that Floyd Mayweather used to knock out Ricky Hatton might cause someone watching him for the first time to assume they were seeing a big puncher. Although I’ll give Bute credit for having more power than Mayweather, I can’t see these recent one punch knockouts as suggesting another Thomas Hearns (as Max Kellerman suggested during his interview after the Miranda fight.)
What you're seeing in Lucian Bute is, a fighter with a good degree of natural talent who is dangerous because he sees what's in front of him, and he fights a little scared. I don’t mean that as a criticism. It's one of the things that has kept him undefeated so far. He doesn’t freeze because of it; it somewhat keeps him in alert mode. He looked like he had a healthy respect for Edison Miranda’s power for the first two rounds of their fight. It wasn’t until he’d decided that he could get in and out with combinations against his lead-footed opponent that he grew a little less cautious.
This isn’t to suggest that Lucien Bute won’t fight if it comes to that. But he likes to dictate the terms whenever possible. He was able to control both Miranda and Andrade (another very slow-footed guy) with a double jab, a punch he uses to both maintain distance and to direct opponents. That distance is important to him, and it’s worth noting that even his excellent uppercuts are thrown with a scythe-like motion from what is a conventional uppercut. He’s able to get away with throwing them because of his accuracy and timing.
People undoubtedly would like to see how he’d do against Super Six tournament fighters like Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell, Arthur Abraham, and Carl Froch.
Since that’s not going to happen for the near future, I’ve got another suggestion. He should fight Kelly Pavlik. It makes sense for everybody involved. And even though he’d be favored to beat the former middleweight champion, especially after Pavlik’s poor showing against Sergio Martinez shown on the same HBO broadcast as Bute-Miranda, it’s not a fight without risks. Pavlik can always punch, even late into his fights.
The fight would draw a huge crowd in Montreal. From a risk/reward perspective, it’s by far the best fight Kelly Pavlik could take. He doesn’t need to come back with a tune-up or a confidence builder. His career is at a standstill, and he needs to jump back into the deep end and see what happens. It’s clear that things couldn’t get worse for him than they are now, unless he loses to a fringe opponent, which could happen if Martinez took away what remained of his confidence. Better to roll the dice against a big name, and go out on his shield if necessary.
If Bute could stop Pavlik, it would continue his ascent into the upper echelon of the game. He has a style that’s well suited to doing that. Kelly cuts and, as a result, tends to walk straight into shots that he can’t see. If he walks into one like the one that kayoed Edison Miranda, it might well kayo him too. The question is what happens if Pavlik is able to land his big right. He’d be smart to find out if he can do that.
Lucian Bute is not going to do well moving up in weight -- his body is well suited to 168 and he can’t move down. Facing Pavlik would be a good place keeping fight for him to take while waiting for the Super Six dust to clear. At this point, I’m not sure that Kelly Pavlik is much more dangerous than Edison Miranda was, although the benefits from knocking him out are far greater.
For Miranda, it’s back to ESPN Friday Night Fights, possibly as no more than a prestigious opponent. We know what he can do. And, unfortunately for him, we know what he can’t.
Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com
Source: thesweetscience.com
Minggu, 18 April 2010
I'm the man to tame the Cobra -- The Sun
By GAVIN GLICKSMAN, The Sun
MIKKEL KESSLER wants to revive his career by becoming the first man to defeat Carl Froch.
Kessler faces the WBC super-middleweight champion on Saturday night knowing a loss will move him a massive step closer to elimination from the Super Six tournament.
Froch has cranked up the pressure by claiming his opponent is in the last chance saloon after dropping the WBA title to Andre Ward in California last November.
But the Viking Warrior has vowed to bounce back and relieve the Cobra of both his belt and his unbeaten record.
Kessler, 31, said: "I had a few bad nights after losing to Ward.
"Nothing worked for me in Oakland, but now I am back, better and stronger than ever.
"I don't want to speak about Ward any more — all my focus is on my next fight.
"It is a fact that I need to win to keep alive my hopes of winning the Super Six.
"This really is my last chance and I will make the most of it."
Kessler was trailing on all three judges' scorecards when a bad cut resulted in his fight with Ward being stopped in the 11th round.
The American was awarded a technical decision and Kessler was left licking his wounds after the second defeat of his career.
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Kessler did not agree with the controversial stoppage but insists there will be no repeat when he faces Froch on home soil in the Danish city of Herning.
He added: "I am feeling great. We had a great preparation with my new trainer Jimmy Montoya and my physical coach Thomas Maicon.
"I started in early January and I am really eager to get into the ring and defeat the Cobra.
"My home fans always give me the extra five per cent. The bottom line is I have never been beaten in Denmark and I never will."
Froch wants to KO Kessler to guarantee his place in the Super Six semi-finals with one fight to spare.
He already has two points on the board after a split-decision victory against Andre Dirrell.
Knocking out Kessler will hand him three more points and leave him top of the Super Six table.
But the Dane has told the Nottingham puncher to prepare to go home empty-handed.
Kessler said: "I don't think Froch will pick up any points from his visit to Denmark."
Source: thesun.co.uk
MIKKEL KESSLER wants to revive his career by becoming the first man to defeat Carl Froch.
Kessler faces the WBC super-middleweight champion on Saturday night knowing a loss will move him a massive step closer to elimination from the Super Six tournament.
Froch has cranked up the pressure by claiming his opponent is in the last chance saloon after dropping the WBA title to Andre Ward in California last November.
But the Viking Warrior has vowed to bounce back and relieve the Cobra of both his belt and his unbeaten record.
Kessler, 31, said: "I had a few bad nights after losing to Ward.
"Nothing worked for me in Oakland, but now I am back, better and stronger than ever.
"I don't want to speak about Ward any more — all my focus is on my next fight.
"It is a fact that I need to win to keep alive my hopes of winning the Super Six.
"This really is my last chance and I will make the most of it."
Kessler was trailing on all three judges' scorecards when a bad cut resulted in his fight with Ward being stopped in the 11th round.
The American was awarded a technical decision and Kessler was left licking his wounds after the second defeat of his career.
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Kessler did not agree with the controversial stoppage but insists there will be no repeat when he faces Froch on home soil in the Danish city of Herning.
He added: "I am feeling great. We had a great preparation with my new trainer Jimmy Montoya and my physical coach Thomas Maicon.
"I started in early January and I am really eager to get into the ring and defeat the Cobra.
"My home fans always give me the extra five per cent. The bottom line is I have never been beaten in Denmark and I never will."
Froch wants to KO Kessler to guarantee his place in the Super Six semi-finals with one fight to spare.
He already has two points on the board after a split-decision victory against Andre Dirrell.
Knocking out Kessler will hand him three more points and leave him top of the Super Six table.
But the Dane has told the Nottingham puncher to prepare to go home empty-handed.
Kessler said: "I don't think Froch will pick up any points from his visit to Denmark."
Source: thesun.co.uk
Minggu, 11 April 2010
Quitting While Ahead or Out Cold: Andre Dirrell’s Victory over Arthur Abraham -- Ringside Report
By Geoff “The Professor” Poundes, RingsideReport.com
If the Super-Six saw itself as a crucible within which to mix a volatile collection of fighters/promoters/ring physicians/fight-fans and hangers-on, then the Arthur Abraham-Andre Dirrell match-up in round two of the tournament will have lived up to everyone’s expectations.
Stranger things have happened in a boxing ring, but not often. Dirrell, now 19-1, 13 KO’s, won the fight flat on his back, his leg twitching spasmodically. When he was dragged to his feet he began weeping like a baby, shouting at once “I got dropped, man” and then “He hit me when I was down!”
He was right the second time. Arthur Abraham, the previously undefeated Armenian, had indeed clocked him while he was on one knee in the corner, courtesy of a pressure-induced slip, causing Dirrell to blink for a second, and then stretch out on the canvas rubbing his head and eyes and writhing as though he’s been harpooned.
The referee Laurence Cole, who had had a poor night up to that point, at least made the right decision – in fact, the only decision he could make – which was to summarily disqualify Abraham and award the fight to the prostrate American.
In the fracas of the aftermath in the ring, Abraham argued somewhat strangely that as he hadn’t intentionally landed a right hand on Dirrell, the fight should have continued after Andre had been allowed some recovery time – but he was surely clutching at straws given that Dirrell, legitimately or otherwise, was behaving as though his senses had been scrambled into the Detroit night.
So the controversy was not about Cole’s decision, but about the legitimacy of Dirrell’s “injuries”. Abraham and his cohorts were in doubt that Dirrell had acted out, in order to steal the win in a fight that he had dominated for nine rounds, but was clearly losing grip off as Abraham stepped things up. Dirrell was dropped heavily in the tenth (a knockdown missed by Cole, but plainly obvious to everyone else), and was under fire in the eleventh when the finish came, just as the cognoscenti were beginning to believe that Abraham’s customary late rally might just yield him yet another knockout.
Much has been made since of Dirrell’s acting abilities, if indeed that was what won him the fight. This scribe’s first impression on the night was that Abraham’s blow was nothing more than a glancing one, that Dirrell had taken several more hefty shots in the fight, and that he was milking it for all he was worth. Replays of the incident appeared to back up that conclusion, as there was a clear pause between impact and effect, which is not unusual in boxing, but Dirrell’s subsequent reactions did not appear those of a man concussed.
Generally, a twitching leg on a knocked out fighter means just that – he’s knocked cold. He’s not in a position to writhe around tearfully holding his head.
Once Dirrell was on his feet, he certainly appeared to be disoriented, and he was shouting a stream of conflicting statements in all directions. Later, his physician was interviewed in the dressing room saying that he was sure Dirrell had suffered a concussion – and yet, Dirrell could plainly be seen behind him on his feet and talking, and he’d just exited the ring under his own steam and walked unaided from ring to backstage. In this scribe’s experience a fighter having shipped the degree of punishment Dirrell’s actions suggested in the ring, would have been on his back, in an oxygen mask, and on his way to hospital.
The truth will never be known, but the question marks will remain over Andre Dirrell for some time to come. For the first nine rounds of this contest he was a revelation, repeating the feat of his fellow countryman, namesake and friend Andre Ward, who had made another super-six European Mikkel Kessler look ordinary in their fight last November. Abraham found himself in with a real technician, and couldn’t get a foothold in the fight as Dirrell put on a display of speed and accuracy.
It may well be that Carl Froch is the main beneficiary of the result, since he has taken a decision from Dirrell, albeit a controversial one. Possibly the two super-six favorites, Abraham and Kessler, have been severely compromised in the tournament and by the two young guns who most felt might have been out of their depth in the competition. Should Froch turn back Kessler later this month, and in light of Kessler’s dire showing against Ward he would be favored to do so, then Froch will become the new leader of the pack as the tourney moves into stage three.
As for Andre Dirrell his next opponent will be Andre Ward, and he’ll have some pressure in the fight to show that he’s deserving of the Abraham win. Ward will have almost certainly taken care of Allan Green by then (they fight in June), and will have his eyes firmly set on maximum super-six points.
Rest assured when all the dust is settled, Arthur Abraham will be looking to drag Andre Dirrell into a rematch to reverse a result that I’m sure he believes was the wrong one. There remains the possibility that such a fight could well be for the unified super-middle title, which is now very much up for grabs.
Over here in the UK we’re reading with increasing alarm about the extra-curricular antics of Joe Calzaghe, who is not taking retirement well, and getting himself involved in all sorts of unsavory incidents. Calzaghe won’t be the first ex-fighter to find life away from the rigorous discipline of boxing hard to stomach, and I shan’t be at all surprised if in a year to eighteen months he steps back into the ring to give the super-six champion a chance at true legitimacy.
Source: ringsidereport.com
If the Super-Six saw itself as a crucible within which to mix a volatile collection of fighters/promoters/ring physicians/fight-fans and hangers-on, then the Arthur Abraham-Andre Dirrell match-up in round two of the tournament will have lived up to everyone’s expectations.
Stranger things have happened in a boxing ring, but not often. Dirrell, now 19-1, 13 KO’s, won the fight flat on his back, his leg twitching spasmodically. When he was dragged to his feet he began weeping like a baby, shouting at once “I got dropped, man” and then “He hit me when I was down!”
He was right the second time. Arthur Abraham, the previously undefeated Armenian, had indeed clocked him while he was on one knee in the corner, courtesy of a pressure-induced slip, causing Dirrell to blink for a second, and then stretch out on the canvas rubbing his head and eyes and writhing as though he’s been harpooned.
The referee Laurence Cole, who had had a poor night up to that point, at least made the right decision – in fact, the only decision he could make – which was to summarily disqualify Abraham and award the fight to the prostrate American.
In the fracas of the aftermath in the ring, Abraham argued somewhat strangely that as he hadn’t intentionally landed a right hand on Dirrell, the fight should have continued after Andre had been allowed some recovery time – but he was surely clutching at straws given that Dirrell, legitimately or otherwise, was behaving as though his senses had been scrambled into the Detroit night.
So the controversy was not about Cole’s decision, but about the legitimacy of Dirrell’s “injuries”. Abraham and his cohorts were in doubt that Dirrell had acted out, in order to steal the win in a fight that he had dominated for nine rounds, but was clearly losing grip off as Abraham stepped things up. Dirrell was dropped heavily in the tenth (a knockdown missed by Cole, but plainly obvious to everyone else), and was under fire in the eleventh when the finish came, just as the cognoscenti were beginning to believe that Abraham’s customary late rally might just yield him yet another knockout.
Much has been made since of Dirrell’s acting abilities, if indeed that was what won him the fight. This scribe’s first impression on the night was that Abraham’s blow was nothing more than a glancing one, that Dirrell had taken several more hefty shots in the fight, and that he was milking it for all he was worth. Replays of the incident appeared to back up that conclusion, as there was a clear pause between impact and effect, which is not unusual in boxing, but Dirrell’s subsequent reactions did not appear those of a man concussed.
Generally, a twitching leg on a knocked out fighter means just that – he’s knocked cold. He’s not in a position to writhe around tearfully holding his head.
Once Dirrell was on his feet, he certainly appeared to be disoriented, and he was shouting a stream of conflicting statements in all directions. Later, his physician was interviewed in the dressing room saying that he was sure Dirrell had suffered a concussion – and yet, Dirrell could plainly be seen behind him on his feet and talking, and he’d just exited the ring under his own steam and walked unaided from ring to backstage. In this scribe’s experience a fighter having shipped the degree of punishment Dirrell’s actions suggested in the ring, would have been on his back, in an oxygen mask, and on his way to hospital.Of course, Dirrell’s proponents would counter with the argument: why would a guy who had won at least 8 of the previous 10 rounds, including a 10-8 round in the fourth when he dropped Abraham for an 8-count, seek an early exit from the fight, when he only had to stay on his feet for four more minutes to pick up an easy decision. It’s an argument that would hold water, were it not for the fact that in the previous four minutes he had been knocked on the seat of his pants, and was looking tired in the face of his opponents increasing momentum. Abraham’s people were adamant that had the fight continued Arthur would have got to Dirrell, and of course they can point to plenty of occasions in his 32 fight career when he’d done just that.
The truth will never be known, but the question marks will remain over Andre Dirrell for some time to come. For the first nine rounds of this contest he was a revelation, repeating the feat of his fellow countryman, namesake and friend Andre Ward, who had made another super-six European Mikkel Kessler look ordinary in their fight last November. Abraham found himself in with a real technician, and couldn’t get a foothold in the fight as Dirrell put on a display of speed and accuracy.It may well be that Carl Froch is the main beneficiary of the result, since he has taken a decision from Dirrell, albeit a controversial one. Possibly the two super-six favorites, Abraham and Kessler, have been severely compromised in the tournament and by the two young guns who most felt might have been out of their depth in the competition. Should Froch turn back Kessler later this month, and in light of Kessler’s dire showing against Ward he would be favored to do so, then Froch will become the new leader of the pack as the tourney moves into stage three.
As for Andre Dirrell his next opponent will be Andre Ward, and he’ll have some pressure in the fight to show that he’s deserving of the Abraham win. Ward will have almost certainly taken care of Allan Green by then (they fight in June), and will have his eyes firmly set on maximum super-six points.
Rest assured when all the dust is settled, Arthur Abraham will be looking to drag Andre Dirrell into a rematch to reverse a result that I’m sure he believes was the wrong one. There remains the possibility that such a fight could well be for the unified super-middle title, which is now very much up for grabs.
Over here in the UK we’re reading with increasing alarm about the extra-curricular antics of Joe Calzaghe, who is not taking retirement well, and getting himself involved in all sorts of unsavory incidents. Calzaghe won’t be the first ex-fighter to find life away from the rigorous discipline of boxing hard to stomach, and I shan’t be at all surprised if in a year to eighteen months he steps back into the ring to give the super-six champion a chance at true legitimacy.
Source: ringsidereport.com
Fulfilling its promise -- 15Rounds
By Bart Barry, 15Rounds.com
Recent criticisms of Showtime’s “Super Six World Boxing Classic” are beginning to make a pattern, faint but detectable. The tournament’s critics appear not to be actual Showtime subscribers. That is, to justify the 10 monthly dollars they save on cable bills, otherwise thoughtful observers now discount the network’s innovative concept by implying it hasn’t met expectations.
Whose expectations? How not?
Among writers, smart ones at least, there’s ever a pessimistic bent to resist. Failure, for being quantifiable, attracts intellect. Smart people like to sort and group things, and success is more elusive than failure. And the writer’s job, often, is to say anything at all even when he can’t say something nice. So it goes.
But it’s time to check that pessimism and take another look at this tournament. And then another and another. A couple Saturdays from now, on April 24, the second fight in Group Stage 2 features Carl “The Cobra” Froch against Mikkel Kessler – to whose surname Hamlet fans might attach “The Dane.” The fight happens in Herning, Denmark. It will likely be the most consequential prizefight in that country’s history.
Last week the Nottinghamshire Cobra and Kessler the Dane joined a conference call without many American writers. They were counterprogrammed by a Kelly Pavlik call in what appeared to be part of HBO’s strategy for undermining Showtime’s tournament, regardless of long-term consequences. Those writers that went for the bigger domestic name missed a chance to learn more about Froch and Kessler. Kelly Pavlik, meanwhile, is strong and ready. Got it.
Asked for an opening comment, Carl Froch began in the third-person beloved by megalomaniacal dictators and prizefighters: “This is the WBC super middleweight champion.” Froch went on to say lots more in the hour that followed, but far as opening comments went, that was it.
Froch is a person of no extraordinary intelligence who speaks eloquently. The ideas he expresses are no larger than other prizefighters’. To his workaday ideas, though, he brings a surprising flamboyance and authority.
Goodness me, might that be an apt metaphor for his fighting style? Come to think of it, yes.
Here’s another thought about Froch’s eloquence. It is a high commentary on the English school system’s deservedly fine reputation. There is no tradition of unintelligent eloquence in America; instead, we revel in smart people expressing themselves badly and call it “egalitarianism” or something. But Froch is a boxing epitome of the peculiar English tradition whose standard bearer is Jane Austen, a writer of no particular intelligence who was still a genius. Solve that riddle, and you’re an Anglophile.
Asked about Mikkel Kessler’s allegations of roughhousing and otherwise dirty tactics by Andre Ward in his last fight – to hear Kessler tell it, Ward only stopped clinching long enough to head butt him – Froch was unwilling to lend Kessler’s excuses credence or Ward any bona fides as a roughhouser. About Kessler, Froch said, “From what I saw, he was quite conclusively outboxed.”
“Quite conclusively outboxed”; how rich is that? It’s precise, short and brooks no disagreement. It doesn’t say anything folks outside the Kessler camp didn’t already think in more expansive ways. But it says it just right. And it also implies there’s more to Froch, as a man and a fighter, than just a surplus of pride and awkwardness – which is about all American writers have credited him with having.
Froch should be exposed by Kessler in his next fight. But Froch should have been exposed by Andre Dirrell in his last fight. He should have been exposed by Jermain Taylor in his penultimate fight. He should have been exposed by Jean Pascal in the fight before that. Had you shown an American bookmaker a tape of any one of Froch’s first 23 fights and asked for Pascal-Taylor-Dirrell parlay pick, there’s no way you would have gotten: Froch 3-0. But that’s exactly where Froch stands.
Froch is proudest of three things: his championship belt, his unblemished record and his high knockout ratio. It’s the third that makes the least sense, though, when you watch Froch’s awkward, often-unbalanced and always unorthodox approach to punching. Asked for a mechanical explanation of the concussion that nevertheless affixes to the ends of his fists, Froch had little insight but plenty of well-chosen words.
“It’s a biological mystery,” he said before exploring, then dismissing, other possibilities such as lower-body strength: “But I have skinny chicken legs, so it’s not that.” So he settled on a combination of mystery and good genes.
Whatever it is mechanically, psychologically it’s about commitment. Carl Froch punches with power because Carl Froch believes he punches with power. There’s more to it than that, of course – accuracy helps, and so do his odd angles – but belief has to be the foundation. Froch hits opponents hard for the same reason Mickey Ward was a great body puncher: He believes.
Someone has to. Whoever was the favorite pick among experts when the Super Six tournament began – Kessler or Arthur Abraham, mostly – no one outside Nottingham had Froch to win. And yet, Froch began by decisioning Dirrell while Dirrell searched for a professional identity. He now faces Kessler in the throes of an identity crisis. And in Group Stage 3, he’ll face an Arthur Abraham who might be more tentative than usual. Get in the playoffs, as they say, and anything can happen.
Which is exactly the point of this tournament. It is unpredictable. It is dramatic. And it’s supported by a “Fight Camp 360” program blessedly focused on boxing and devoid of Mayweathers. The episodes move well and filter the noise some think prizefighting is about. Unlike HBO’s “24/7” programs, then, “Fight Camp 360” is made for people who care about boxing those other 50 weeks of the year.
The Super Six remains the best thing to happen to our sport since Vazquez-Marquez III.
Source: 15rounds.com
Recent criticisms of Showtime’s “Super Six World Boxing Classic” are beginning to make a pattern, faint but detectable. The tournament’s critics appear not to be actual Showtime subscribers. That is, to justify the 10 monthly dollars they save on cable bills, otherwise thoughtful observers now discount the network’s innovative concept by implying it hasn’t met expectations.
Whose expectations? How not?
Among writers, smart ones at least, there’s ever a pessimistic bent to resist. Failure, for being quantifiable, attracts intellect. Smart people like to sort and group things, and success is more elusive than failure. And the writer’s job, often, is to say anything at all even when he can’t say something nice. So it goes.
But it’s time to check that pessimism and take another look at this tournament. And then another and another. A couple Saturdays from now, on April 24, the second fight in Group Stage 2 features Carl “The Cobra” Froch against Mikkel Kessler – to whose surname Hamlet fans might attach “The Dane.” The fight happens in Herning, Denmark. It will likely be the most consequential prizefight in that country’s history.
Last week the Nottinghamshire Cobra and Kessler the Dane joined a conference call without many American writers. They were counterprogrammed by a Kelly Pavlik call in what appeared to be part of HBO’s strategy for undermining Showtime’s tournament, regardless of long-term consequences. Those writers that went for the bigger domestic name missed a chance to learn more about Froch and Kessler. Kelly Pavlik, meanwhile, is strong and ready. Got it.Asked for an opening comment, Carl Froch began in the third-person beloved by megalomaniacal dictators and prizefighters: “This is the WBC super middleweight champion.” Froch went on to say lots more in the hour that followed, but far as opening comments went, that was it.
Froch is a person of no extraordinary intelligence who speaks eloquently. The ideas he expresses are no larger than other prizefighters’. To his workaday ideas, though, he brings a surprising flamboyance and authority.
Goodness me, might that be an apt metaphor for his fighting style? Come to think of it, yes.
Here’s another thought about Froch’s eloquence. It is a high commentary on the English school system’s deservedly fine reputation. There is no tradition of unintelligent eloquence in America; instead, we revel in smart people expressing themselves badly and call it “egalitarianism” or something. But Froch is a boxing epitome of the peculiar English tradition whose standard bearer is Jane Austen, a writer of no particular intelligence who was still a genius. Solve that riddle, and you’re an Anglophile.
Asked about Mikkel Kessler’s allegations of roughhousing and otherwise dirty tactics by Andre Ward in his last fight – to hear Kessler tell it, Ward only stopped clinching long enough to head butt him – Froch was unwilling to lend Kessler’s excuses credence or Ward any bona fides as a roughhouser. About Kessler, Froch said, “From what I saw, he was quite conclusively outboxed.”
“Quite conclusively outboxed”; how rich is that? It’s precise, short and brooks no disagreement. It doesn’t say anything folks outside the Kessler camp didn’t already think in more expansive ways. But it says it just right. And it also implies there’s more to Froch, as a man and a fighter, than just a surplus of pride and awkwardness – which is about all American writers have credited him with having.
Froch should be exposed by Kessler in his next fight. But Froch should have been exposed by Andre Dirrell in his last fight. He should have been exposed by Jermain Taylor in his penultimate fight. He should have been exposed by Jean Pascal in the fight before that. Had you shown an American bookmaker a tape of any one of Froch’s first 23 fights and asked for Pascal-Taylor-Dirrell parlay pick, there’s no way you would have gotten: Froch 3-0. But that’s exactly where Froch stands.
Froch is proudest of three things: his championship belt, his unblemished record and his high knockout ratio. It’s the third that makes the least sense, though, when you watch Froch’s awkward, often-unbalanced and always unorthodox approach to punching. Asked for a mechanical explanation of the concussion that nevertheless affixes to the ends of his fists, Froch had little insight but plenty of well-chosen words.
“It’s a biological mystery,” he said before exploring, then dismissing, other possibilities such as lower-body strength: “But I have skinny chicken legs, so it’s not that.” So he settled on a combination of mystery and good genes.
Whatever it is mechanically, psychologically it’s about commitment. Carl Froch punches with power because Carl Froch believes he punches with power. There’s more to it than that, of course – accuracy helps, and so do his odd angles – but belief has to be the foundation. Froch hits opponents hard for the same reason Mickey Ward was a great body puncher: He believes.
Someone has to. Whoever was the favorite pick among experts when the Super Six tournament began – Kessler or Arthur Abraham, mostly – no one outside Nottingham had Froch to win. And yet, Froch began by decisioning Dirrell while Dirrell searched for a professional identity. He now faces Kessler in the throes of an identity crisis. And in Group Stage 3, he’ll face an Arthur Abraham who might be more tentative than usual. Get in the playoffs, as they say, and anything can happen.
Which is exactly the point of this tournament. It is unpredictable. It is dramatic. And it’s supported by a “Fight Camp 360” program blessedly focused on boxing and devoid of Mayweathers. The episodes move well and filter the noise some think prizefighting is about. Unlike HBO’s “24/7” programs, then, “Fight Camp 360” is made for people who care about boxing those other 50 weeks of the year.
The Super Six remains the best thing to happen to our sport since Vazquez-Marquez III.
Source: 15rounds.com
Jumat, 09 April 2010
Abraham’s management protesting loss to Dirrell – looking to get it changed to a ‘no decision’ -- BoxingNews24
By Jim Dower, BoxingNews24.com
Sauerland, the promotional company for Arthur Abraham
(31-1, 25 KO’s), is looking to get his recent 11th round disqualification loss to Andre Dirrell overturned and changed to a ‘no decision,’ according to German news agency Bild.de. They’re unhappy that American referee Lawrence Cole, who worked the Abraham-Dirrell stage 2 Super Six tournament bout on March 27th, failed to shout “Break” after Dirrell has accidently slipped on the canvas in the 11th round.
Abraham, not hearing any stop in the action, landed a right hand to the side of Dirrell’s head while he was on one knee, knocking Dirrell out and causing referee Lawrence Cole to disqualify Abraham. After the fight, Abraham complained that he didn’t notice that Dirrell was down when he hit him, and called him a “good actor.”
Sauerland has protested the loss to the WBC, and want the loss to be taken off. Besides the punch that led to the disqualification, Abraham’s management is also unhappy that Cole didn’t rule that Dirrell was knocked down in the 10th round after getting hit with a hard right hand that put Dirrell on his backside. Cole ruled that he had tripped over Abraham’s foot.
Additionally, Abraham’s German management felt that Dirrell should have had points taken off for a series of low blows, which Dirrell was allowed to land without being penalized by Cole. But their main gripe is that Cole failed to shout “Break” after Dirrell slipped to the canvas in the 11th. Without the referee stopping the action, Abraham continued to fight and blasted Dirrell with a hard right to the head that badly hurt him.
Earlier in the fight, Dirrell had hit Abraham with a low blow, and Dirrell continued to go after Abraham, even though the German looked to be in visible pain and bending forward. Dirrell looked briefly at the referee and when he saw that he wasn’t going to stop the action, Dirrell went after Abraham and missed with a big left hook. The difference between what Dirrell did and what Abraham did was that Dirrell looked at the referee before proceeding to continue his attack, whereas Abraham didn’t hesitate after Dirrell slipped on the canvas, bending down and hitting Dirrell with a hard right hand to the head.
It’s unclear whether the WBC will overturn the decision. It’s hard to imagine they will, because there wasn’t much time for the referee Cole to shout for a stop in the action because he appeared to be partially shielded from what was taking place by Abraham’s back and was far away from the action. It’s possible the WBC will overturn it, but I doubt it. Dirrell appeared to be clearly down and Abraham had to actually bend over to hit him. Even if Abraham didn’t receive any instructions from the referee, it should seem pretty obvious that Dirrell was down and defenseless at the time he was hit by Abraham.
Source: boxingnews24.com
Sauerland, the promotional company for Arthur Abraham (31-1, 25 KO’s), is looking to get his recent 11th round disqualification loss to Andre Dirrell overturned and changed to a ‘no decision,’ according to German news agency Bild.de. They’re unhappy that American referee Lawrence Cole, who worked the Abraham-Dirrell stage 2 Super Six tournament bout on March 27th, failed to shout “Break” after Dirrell has accidently slipped on the canvas in the 11th round. Abraham, not hearing any stop in the action, landed a right hand to the side of Dirrell’s head while he was on one knee, knocking Dirrell out and causing referee Lawrence Cole to disqualify Abraham. After the fight, Abraham complained that he didn’t notice that Dirrell was down when he hit him, and called him a “good actor.”
Sauerland has protested the loss to the WBC, and want the loss to be taken off. Besides the punch that led to the disqualification, Abraham’s management is also unhappy that Cole didn’t rule that Dirrell was knocked down in the 10th round after getting hit with a hard right hand that put Dirrell on his backside. Cole ruled that he had tripped over Abraham’s foot.
Additionally, Abraham’s German management felt that Dirrell should have had points taken off for a series of low blows, which Dirrell was allowed to land without being penalized by Cole. But their main gripe is that Cole failed to shout “Break” after Dirrell slipped to the canvas in the 11th. Without the referee stopping the action, Abraham continued to fight and blasted Dirrell with a hard right to the head that badly hurt him.
Earlier in the fight, Dirrell had hit Abraham with a low blow, and Dirrell continued to go after Abraham, even though the German looked to be in visible pain and bending forward. Dirrell looked briefly at the referee and when he saw that he wasn’t going to stop the action, Dirrell went after Abraham and missed with a big left hook. The difference between what Dirrell did and what Abraham did was that Dirrell looked at the referee before proceeding to continue his attack, whereas Abraham didn’t hesitate after Dirrell slipped on the canvas, bending down and hitting Dirrell with a hard right hand to the head.
It’s unclear whether the WBC will overturn the decision. It’s hard to imagine they will, because there wasn’t much time for the referee Cole to shout for a stop in the action because he appeared to be partially shielded from what was taking place by Abraham’s back and was far away from the action. It’s possible the WBC will overturn it, but I doubt it. Dirrell appeared to be clearly down and Abraham had to actually bend over to hit him. Even if Abraham didn’t receive any instructions from the referee, it should seem pretty obvious that Dirrell was down and defenseless at the time he was hit by Abraham.
Source: boxingnews24.com
Carl Froch: “I may just put Kessler into retirement” -- Eastside Boxing
By Geoffrey Ciani, Eastside Boxing
This week’s edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with reigning WBC super middleweight champion Carl “The Cobra Froch. In round one of the Super Six super middleweight tournament Froch won a somewhat controversial decision against Andre Dirrell, who has since gone on to beat Arthur Abraham in round two. Now Froch prepares for his own round two match-up when he squares off against Mikkel Kessler on April 24 in Kessler’s home country of Denmark. Determined as always, Froch made his intentions clear—he plans on winning the tournament and doing so in style. Here are some excerpts from that interview:
His views on Kessler’s last performance against Andre Ward:
“There’s an old cliché, ‘styles make fights’. I don’t fight like Andre Ward, but obviously there’s a few flaws exposed there. He doesn’t move very well. He doesn’t move that well Mikkel Kessler. He can’t operate, he comes in and out in straight lines. He goes through the basics very well. So I’m not going to underestimate him or go in there with any set game plan, I’m just going to do my thing and that’s usually enough.”
Regarding his own performance against Andre Dirrell in round one of the Super Six:
On whether he believes Dirrell would have been able to survive the distance had Abraham not committed the foul that resulted in disqualification:“It is difficult to say. I know it was counted as a knockdown in round ten, but there was a clear knockdown from where I was standing in my lounge watching it on TV. It looked like a clean knockdown. A punch connected on the chin and he went over. There was a little bit of a question mark around where his feet were when he fell over. Was it a trip or was he hit with a flush punch on the jaw when he went over. After that he was running and holding and surviving. Abraham was getting to him and catching up with him, but Abraham was tiring himself a little bit. So who knows, it’s the million dollar question whether Abraham was going to catch up with him and knock him out or was Dirrell going to survive? Dirrell probably would have moved, and held, and survived like he did against me.”
On whether he thinks he can take advantage of Kessler’s low confidence following his one-sided loss at the hands of Andre Ward:
“Obviously there’s an opening there to try and take advantage, but there’s the wounded fox syndrome where an animal’s been wounded and is bleeding. He’s going to come out fighting. You’ve got to realize Mikkel Kessler’s got absolutely nothing to lose now. He’s already lost his world title and he’s been put in a position now where he’s fighting for the WBC world title in his very next fight and on top of that it’s in his home town, so yeah he’s going to have chinks in his armor and that mentally can be seen as a bit negative. But is that going affect him enough to make perform really badly? Perhaps it might make him fight even better. All I could say is Kessler’s going to be a worse Kessler or a better Kessler, and what I will say is I’m going in the fight on the back of three great wins: Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell.”
Regarding who he believes would win the Super Six if he was included:
“Andre Ward’s obviously a very good fighter. He’s coming back off a win with Mikkel Kessler. Allan Green is very much an unknown quantity in my eyes. I’ve not seen much of him. He boxed on the under card when I fought Jermain Taylor and he got the kid out of there very early, he boxed against recently and got him out early as well, but this is at a certain level. It will be interesting to see how the Ward-Green fight unfolds, but I think the winner of that fight would, essentially without my entry, be the winner of that tournament because Abraham is limited, Kessler’s already been beaten by Ward, and Andre Dirrell—very good fighter, but he hasn’t got the heart that you need and I think there’s a question mark around his chin now. Even though he won the fight against Abraham, he got knocked out very badly so that’s going to mentally scar him and when he fights next he will be even more negative thinking with not wanting to get hit with one of them shots and get put to sleep temporarily. So I think you got to say it’s a Ward or a Green without ‘The Cobra’ being involved.”
On Allan Green replacing Jermain Taylor in the tournament:
“I think it’s a very feasible entrance. Allan Green is as good an entrance as anyone I could have picked. I think he’s probably the next best super middleweight other than the other world champion, Lucian Bute, who’s not got the heart to come into it. He doesn’t have the confidence because he was offered a place. I tried to get a fight with him before coming into the tournament and he basically just doesn’t want to fight anybody so he’s basically just ‘Mr. Annoying’ in the super middleweight. He’s got his own title and he’s sitting on it and picking easy fights, but without going into him, Allan Green I think is a great edition to the tournament. He’s a very worthwhile competitor into the Super Six. He deserves his place in here, that’s for sure.”
Regarding whether he agreed with Jermain Taylor’s decision to pull out of the tournament:
“I pretty much finished him off. Arthur Abraham took a lot of credit for that fight a lot of the craze for beating Taylor but I think he was already damaged goods when he fought Abraham and Abraham got him out of there. Jermain Taylor made the right decision coming out especially after the injury he received to the brain. I’m hearing he got brain bleed in his fight against Abraham, so you’ve got to say that’s the right decision to come out of the tournament, take some time off, to heal up, and reevaluate what you’re doing. Jermain Taylor’s had a fantastic career. He was undisputed middleweight champion, he beat (Bernard) Hopkins twice, he was an Olympic Medalist, he was a big, big superstar on both sides of the Atlantic. He can retire happily with his chin held high that he’s had a fantastic career.”
On how he feels he will do in his third round match-up against Abraham:
“Abraham, every time he seems to fight lately, he comes in with vertical forearms and a peek-a-boo style hiding behind his tight defense. I don’t think he’s big enough or strong enough. He can obviously punch hard, but he’s a middleweight coming up to super middleweight and I’ve stood next to him and I’m about four or five inches taller than him. I think he’s about 5’8”-5’9”, I might be wrong, he might be 5’9”—no, he’s not 5’10”. So I’m quite a bit taller than him. He’s got short levers as they say in England, he’s not got very long arms, he’s not a very rangy fighter so it’s difficult for him to get in range without taking about five or six shots on the way in. I’ve got fast hands, I got a long jab, I’m fit for twelve rounds—I don’t see how he can beat me. He’s going to have to try and steam forward and land a big shot and if he lands a big shot he’s going to land it on the granite chin of ‘The Cobra’ so it’s not going to make any impression. So I see the fight being a win for me ten times out of ten, simple as that. Andre Dirrell showed how to beat Abraham, but like I said unfortunately, he also showed how to get knocked out at the end of the fight.”
His views on the round two match-up between Ward and Green:
“I was really looking forward to watching that after I finish my job with Kessler but it’s been pushed back to June now for whatever reason. I heard Ward’s got a knee injury but there’s a lot of speculation around that, but I won’t put my money’s worth of comments in there because I don’t know the circumstances of his injury and stuff. I had a knee operation myself a couple of years ago and it can be quite a key injury. But how do I see the Green-Ward fight going? I don’t know. It depends on how good Green and like I said earlier, I have not seen a lot of Green to know if he’s got enough to put the pressure on and land his heavy punches against someone as experienced and as well schooled as the Olympic Gold Medalist and WBA world champion Ward. It’s going to be a good fight. It’s going to be awful close, but if Green puts the pressure on him and starts landing with his artillery he can win the fight, simple as that. But you I’m not a boxing commentator, I’m not a big boxing fan, I’m not a boxing expert, but I do know a few things about the super middleweight division and to me that fight’s a close fight and one that I can’t call just because of a lack of knowledge on both fighters, to be honest.”
His views on the third round contest between Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward:
“It’s hard to pick a winner out of Ward and Dirrell. Dirrell’s a good fighter with fast hands, but he’s a wounded soldier now. You’d favor Ward with experience and with the fact that he’s not been damaged. You got to remember now, Dirrell’s slightly damaged goods mentally, if not anything else physically. He’s mentally damaged, and Ward’s not had that so the smart money’s on Ward for the Ward-Dirrell fight.”
His views on the third round contest between Allan Green and Mikkel Kessler:
“Who knows? It’s another 50-50 fight. That’s what’s so great about the Super Six World Boxing Classic. All the matches are quite tightly wounded up because of the sheer style and experience of each fighter. I don’t know enough about Green to know if he can beat Kessler. I’d probably say Kessler beats Green, but who knows. After I beat Kessler, who knows what he is going to have left in the tank. I may just put him into retirement.”
His views on former super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe who is widely viewed as the best super middleweight of all time:
“The winner of this tournament is going to be considered the best super middleweight of all time. The only thing Joe Calzaghe’s going to be remembered for now is that issue from the press. When people mention Joe Calzaghe all they’re going to mention is that he’s a drug fiend and a coke-head.”
Regarding who he thinks will win the upcoming mega bout between Sugar Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Junior:
“Shane Mosley possesses quite a lot of punching power and is still skillful but he’s in his twilight years. He’s pretty much hanging on to a career that finished a few years ago. Mayweather’s still up there with the best of them. He’s pound for pound the best fighter, even better than Manny Pacquiao who everybody is raving about over here. I see that fight going for Floyd Mayweather, I really do.”
On whether he has any fears about the fight going to the scorecards in Kessler’s home country of Denmark:
“The WBC is an honorable fighting organization and they don’t get involved in robberies or controversial decisions. They’re a great council. I’m an honorable champion. I’ve served the belt very well so going over to Denmark for me is not a worry because the officials, the judges, and everybody involved will be fair when scoring and I expect nothing other than a fair decision. The best man on that night should win the fight. Obviously I’m of the opinion that I’m going to be the better man on that night. Although it is in Denmark, it is a slight advantage for Mikkel because he’s got the home crowd advantage—some people consider that to be an advantage and some consider that to be a disadvantage, it depends on the person. You always have a chance that he’s landing his shots and the crowd’s screaming for him and the judges can see the work being done is being acknowledged by the crowd. It does help and it is slightly influential, but it’s my job to silence the crowd like I did in Connecticut in the middle of the forest in North America when I boxed Jermain Taylor. 95%-98% of the crowd was against me, but I don’t worry about going into the lion’s den because I’ve done it before many times as an amateur, I’ve done it a couple of times as a professional and I’ll be doing it again in Denmark on the 24th of April.”
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Source: eastsideboxing.com
This week’s edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with reigning WBC super middleweight champion Carl “The Cobra Froch. In round one of the Super Six super middleweight tournament Froch won a somewhat controversial decision against Andre Dirrell, who has since gone on to beat Arthur Abraham in round two. Now Froch prepares for his own round two match-up when he squares off against Mikkel Kessler on April 24 in Kessler’s home country of Denmark. Determined as always, Froch made his intentions clear—he plans on winning the tournament and doing so in style. Here are some excerpts from that interview:
His views on Kessler’s last performance against Andre Ward:
“There’s an old cliché, ‘styles make fights’. I don’t fight like Andre Ward, but obviously there’s a few flaws exposed there. He doesn’t move very well. He doesn’t move that well Mikkel Kessler. He can’t operate, he comes in and out in straight lines. He goes through the basics very well. So I’m not going to underestimate him or go in there with any set game plan, I’m just going to do my thing and that’s usually enough.”
Regarding his own performance against Andre Dirrell in round one of the Super Six:
“Yeah, I was very happy with my performance. I did what I had to do to retain my title against somebody 
who was being very negative, running and holding, and was somewhat skilled, as Andre Dirrell showed he possess in the performance with Arthur Abraham the other day. But with me, he chose to run and hold.. I mean Abraham is one of those quiet type guys who doesn’t really throw many punches or bring much variation to the game, so Dirrell was able to pretty much do what he wanted with him. Against me, he was always having that risk of getting hit and roughing him up and putting the pressure on him. He didn’t like that, so he opted to run and hold. As for my performance, I fought someone with very fast hands, very skillful, and he was never able to adapt to my style. I beat him at his own game, so I would give myself an A+ for that performance.”
who was being very negative, running and holding, and was somewhat skilled, as Andre Dirrell showed he possess in the performance with Arthur Abraham the other day. But with me, he chose to run and hold.. I mean Abraham is one of those quiet type guys who doesn’t really throw many punches or bring much variation to the game, so Dirrell was able to pretty much do what he wanted with him. Against me, he was always having that risk of getting hit and roughing him up and putting the pressure on him. He didn’t like that, so he opted to run and hold. As for my performance, I fought someone with very fast hands, very skillful, and he was never able to adapt to my style. I beat him at his own game, so I would give myself an A+ for that performance.”On the fight between Dirrell and Abraham:
“I thought he boxed very well and he put combinations together to body and head, but Abraham stood in front of him just like a heavy bag would. It’s not hard to look good against something when there’s not much coming back and Abraham’s guilty of probably not working hard enough. He didn’t really fire much back and he held his guard very tight and upright. I’ve boxed people like that myself as an amateur and Eastern European fighters in the turtle defense like they say. It’s quite easy to just pick them apart and punch when you want and just move when they attack and you see anything coming. I told everybody before that fight Dirrell would probably outbox him and look like a million dollars doing it or get knocked out. Both of those happened. He outpointed Abraham and looked good doing it but he also got knocked out which was unfortunate for Dirrell. So my predictions came through, that’s for sure.”
On whether he believes Dirrell would have been able to survive the distance had Abraham not committed the foul that resulted in disqualification:On whether he thinks he can take advantage of Kessler’s low confidence following his one-sided loss at the hands of Andre Ward:
“Obviously there’s an opening there to try and take advantage, but there’s the wounded fox syndrome where an animal’s been wounded and is bleeding. He’s going to come out fighting. You’ve got to realize Mikkel Kessler’s got absolutely nothing to lose now. He’s already lost his world title and he’s been put in a position now where he’s fighting for the WBC world title in his very next fight and on top of that it’s in his home town, so yeah he’s going to have chinks in his armor and that mentally can be seen as a bit negative. But is that going affect him enough to make perform really badly? Perhaps it might make him fight even better. All I could say is Kessler’s going to be a worse Kessler or a better Kessler, and what I will say is I’m going in the fight on the back of three great wins: Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell.”
Regarding who he believes would win the Super Six if he was included:
“Andre Ward’s obviously a very good fighter. He’s coming back off a win with Mikkel Kessler. Allan Green is very much an unknown quantity in my eyes. I’ve not seen much of him. He boxed on the under card when I fought Jermain Taylor and he got the kid out of there very early, he boxed against recently and got him out early as well, but this is at a certain level. It will be interesting to see how the Ward-Green fight unfolds, but I think the winner of that fight would, essentially without my entry, be the winner of that tournament because Abraham is limited, Kessler’s already been beaten by Ward, and Andre Dirrell—very good fighter, but he hasn’t got the heart that you need and I think there’s a question mark around his chin now. Even though he won the fight against Abraham, he got knocked out very badly so that’s going to mentally scar him and when he fights next he will be even more negative thinking with not wanting to get hit with one of them shots and get put to sleep temporarily. So I think you got to say it’s a Ward or a Green without ‘The Cobra’ being involved.”
On Allan Green replacing Jermain Taylor in the tournament:
“I think it’s a very feasible entrance. Allan Green is as good an entrance as anyone I could have picked. I think he’s probably the next best super middleweight other than the other world champion, Lucian Bute, who’s not got the heart to come into it. He doesn’t have the confidence because he was offered a place. I tried to get a fight with him before coming into the tournament and he basically just doesn’t want to fight anybody so he’s basically just ‘Mr. Annoying’ in the super middleweight. He’s got his own title and he’s sitting on it and picking easy fights, but without going into him, Allan Green I think is a great edition to the tournament. He’s a very worthwhile competitor into the Super Six. He deserves his place in here, that’s for sure.”
Regarding whether he agreed with Jermain Taylor’s decision to pull out of the tournament:
“I pretty much finished him off. Arthur Abraham took a lot of credit for that fight a lot of the craze for beating Taylor but I think he was already damaged goods when he fought Abraham and Abraham got him out of there. Jermain Taylor made the right decision coming out especially after the injury he received to the brain. I’m hearing he got brain bleed in his fight against Abraham, so you’ve got to say that’s the right decision to come out of the tournament, take some time off, to heal up, and reevaluate what you’re doing. Jermain Taylor’s had a fantastic career. He was undisputed middleweight champion, he beat (Bernard) Hopkins twice, he was an Olympic Medalist, he was a big, big superstar on both sides of the Atlantic. He can retire happily with his chin held high that he’s had a fantastic career.”
On how he feels he will do in his third round match-up against Abraham:
“Abraham, every time he seems to fight lately, he comes in with vertical forearms and a peek-a-boo style hiding behind his tight defense. I don’t think he’s big enough or strong enough. He can obviously punch hard, but he’s a middleweight coming up to super middleweight and I’ve stood next to him and I’m about four or five inches taller than him. I think he’s about 5’8”-5’9”, I might be wrong, he might be 5’9”—no, he’s not 5’10”. So I’m quite a bit taller than him. He’s got short levers as they say in England, he’s not got very long arms, he’s not a very rangy fighter so it’s difficult for him to get in range without taking about five or six shots on the way in. I’ve got fast hands, I got a long jab, I’m fit for twelve rounds—I don’t see how he can beat me. He’s going to have to try and steam forward and land a big shot and if he lands a big shot he’s going to land it on the granite chin of ‘The Cobra’ so it’s not going to make any impression. So I see the fight being a win for me ten times out of ten, simple as that. Andre Dirrell showed how to beat Abraham, but like I said unfortunately, he also showed how to get knocked out at the end of the fight.”
His views on the round two match-up between Ward and Green:
“I was really looking forward to watching that after I finish my job with Kessler but it’s been pushed back to June now for whatever reason. I heard Ward’s got a knee injury but there’s a lot of speculation around that, but I won’t put my money’s worth of comments in there because I don’t know the circumstances of his injury and stuff. I had a knee operation myself a couple of years ago and it can be quite a key injury. But how do I see the Green-Ward fight going? I don’t know. It depends on how good Green and like I said earlier, I have not seen a lot of Green to know if he’s got enough to put the pressure on and land his heavy punches against someone as experienced and as well schooled as the Olympic Gold Medalist and WBA world champion Ward. It’s going to be a good fight. It’s going to be awful close, but if Green puts the pressure on him and starts landing with his artillery he can win the fight, simple as that. But you I’m not a boxing commentator, I’m not a big boxing fan, I’m not a boxing expert, but I do know a few things about the super middleweight division and to me that fight’s a close fight and one that I can’t call just because of a lack of knowledge on both fighters, to be honest.”
His views on the third round contest between Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward:
“It’s hard to pick a winner out of Ward and Dirrell. Dirrell’s a good fighter with fast hands, but he’s a wounded soldier now. You’d favor Ward with experience and with the fact that he’s not been damaged. You got to remember now, Dirrell’s slightly damaged goods mentally, if not anything else physically. He’s mentally damaged, and Ward’s not had that so the smart money’s on Ward for the Ward-Dirrell fight.”
His views on the third round contest between Allan Green and Mikkel Kessler:
“Who knows? It’s another 50-50 fight. That’s what’s so great about the Super Six World Boxing Classic. All the matches are quite tightly wounded up because of the sheer style and experience of each fighter. I don’t know enough about Green to know if he can beat Kessler. I’d probably say Kessler beats Green, but who knows. After I beat Kessler, who knows what he is going to have left in the tank. I may just put him into retirement.”
His views on former super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe who is widely viewed as the best super middleweight of all time:
“The winner of this tournament is going to be considered the best super middleweight of all time. The only thing Joe Calzaghe’s going to be remembered for now is that issue from the press. When people mention Joe Calzaghe all they’re going to mention is that he’s a drug fiend and a coke-head.”
Regarding who he thinks will win the upcoming mega bout between Sugar Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Junior:
“Shane Mosley possesses quite a lot of punching power and is still skillful but he’s in his twilight years. He’s pretty much hanging on to a career that finished a few years ago. Mayweather’s still up there with the best of them. He’s pound for pound the best fighter, even better than Manny Pacquiao who everybody is raving about over here. I see that fight going for Floyd Mayweather, I really do.”
On whether he has any fears about the fight going to the scorecards in Kessler’s home country of Denmark:
“The WBC is an honorable fighting organization and they don’t get involved in robberies or controversial decisions. They’re a great council. I’m an honorable champion. I’ve served the belt very well so going over to Denmark for me is not a worry because the officials, the judges, and everybody involved will be fair when scoring and I expect nothing other than a fair decision. The best man on that night should win the fight. Obviously I’m of the opinion that I’m going to be the better man on that night. Although it is in Denmark, it is a slight advantage for Mikkel because he’s got the home crowd advantage—some people consider that to be an advantage and some consider that to be a disadvantage, it depends on the person. You always have a chance that he’s landing his shots and the crowd’s screaming for him and the judges can see the work being done is being acknowledged by the crowd. It does help and it is slightly influential, but it’s my job to silence the crowd like I did in Connecticut in the middle of the forest in North America when I boxed Jermain Taylor. 95%-98% of the crowd was against me, but I don’t worry about going into the lion’s den because I’ve done it before many times as an amateur, I’ve done it a couple of times as a professional and I’ll be doing it again in Denmark on the 24th of April.”
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Source: eastsideboxing.com
Selasa, 06 April 2010
Fight Camp 360: The Andre Dirrell-Arthur Abraham Controversy -- FanHouse
By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
As the controversial ending of Andre Dirrell's disqualification victory over Arthur Abraham opens Wednesday night's 10 p.m. fifth episode of Showtime's Fight Camp 360: Inside The Super Six Super Middleweight (168 pounds) World Boxing Classic, newly inserted competitor, Allan Green, reacts with astonishment from ringside.
A still-dazed Dirrell, meanwhile, rises on unsteady legs after having slipped, and, been subsequently, hit while he was on the canvas by Abraham's vicious, downward-swooping right hand.
"All that I could think about was, 'Everybody get away from me.' I couldn't even breathe," said Dirrell, who believed that he had lost by a knockout. "I got dropped. That was all that was in my mind was that I got dropped."
By now, however, many of you know that Dirrell's assertion is not completely accurate. Although Dirrell and his handlers contend that the fighter was, indeed, KO'd, the ruling was that the Armenian-born Abraham had done so illegally.
Abraham lost the first bout of his professional career by disqualification at 1:13 of the 11th round when he nailed Dirrell in a neutral corner -- this after the Dirrell had slipped to the canvas on a slick advertisement label.
An overwhelming underdog entering the fight, Dirrell had boxed his way to an insurmountable lead on the judges' cards, having floored Abraham for the first time in the latter's career in the fourth round.
In addition, Dirrell had cut Abraham with a slicing, seventh-round left hook.
In defeat, Abraham fell to 31-1, with 25 knockouts, failing to earn his ninth knockout in his past 10 fights and his third straight stoppage victory against Dirrell, who rose to 19-1, with 13 knockouts as part of the classic's group stage No. 2.
A former Olympic bronze medalist from Flint, Mich., who, nevertheless, thrilled his boisterous, partisan fans at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena against Abraham, Dirrell, in the piece, indicates that some of the fear and intimidation he felt concerning Abraham was lost during the pre-fight weigh-in.
"You always size up the other fighter when they take their shirt off and I take of mine. You look at these guys and you're like, 'Man, he's got this many knockouts,'" said Dirrell, who displayed more muscular features -- particularly around the adbomen -- than Abraham.
"You almost get so lost in thinking about it that you think that they're machines and you think that they're just built for this," said Dirrell. "But when you meet up with them, face-to-face, you see that he's just another man."
That notion actually bore itself out during the bout, which helped Dirrell to rebound from October's split-decision loss to WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 25 KOs), of Nottingham, England, who will defend his crown against Denmark's Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KOs) on April 24.
Meanwhile, on June 19, Green (29-1, 20 KOs), will go after the WBA title of Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KOs), who dethroned Kessler for that belt.
Lying in his hotel room the night before their bout, Dirrell lets on that he's "Still nervous."
"Being by myself, I get nervous. Confident as ever, but neverous," said Dirrell, peering at the weigh-in's stare-down photo of himself and Abraham, which he had programmed into his celular phone.
"I've got him right here," said Dirrell, holding the shot up to the Showtime cameras. "I've already got him focused in. 'I'm coming Abraham.' I've got him on my mind. It's just you and me buddy."
During the fighter meetings with Showtime officials earlier in the day, Abraham gave an intriguing assessment of Dirrell's performance against Froch.
"Dirrell did nothing. He'd run, run, run. So he does not win," said Abraham, swirling his right pointer finger around in circles for emphasis. "I want to only win. I'd like a KO in the first round. I want to finish it very quickly."
Of course, that is not what occurred.
"I'm feeling quite confident for our fight tonight," said Wilfried Sauerland, Abraham's promoter. "But you know with boxing, everything can happen."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
As the controversial ending of Andre Dirrell's disqualification victory over Arthur Abraham opens Wednesday night's 10 p.m. fifth episode of Showtime's Fight Camp 360: Inside The Super Six Super Middleweight (168 pounds) World Boxing Classic, newly inserted competitor, Allan Green, reacts with astonishment from ringside.
A still-dazed Dirrell, meanwhile, rises on unsteady legs after having slipped, and, been subsequently, hit while he was on the canvas by Abraham's vicious, downward-swooping right hand.
"All that I could think about was, 'Everybody get away from me.' I couldn't even breathe," said Dirrell, who believed that he had lost by a knockout. "I got dropped. That was all that was in my mind was that I got dropped."
By now, however, many of you know that Dirrell's assertion is not completely accurate. Although Dirrell and his handlers contend that the fighter was, indeed, KO'd, the ruling was that the Armenian-born Abraham had done so illegally.
Abraham lost the first bout of his professional career by disqualification at 1:13 of the 11th round when he nailed Dirrell in a neutral corner -- this after the Dirrell had slipped to the canvas on a slick advertisement label.An overwhelming underdog entering the fight, Dirrell had boxed his way to an insurmountable lead on the judges' cards, having floored Abraham for the first time in the latter's career in the fourth round.
In addition, Dirrell had cut Abraham with a slicing, seventh-round left hook. In defeat, Abraham fell to 31-1, with 25 knockouts, failing to earn his ninth knockout in his past 10 fights and his third straight stoppage victory against Dirrell, who rose to 19-1, with 13 knockouts as part of the classic's group stage No. 2.
A former Olympic bronze medalist from Flint, Mich., who, nevertheless, thrilled his boisterous, partisan fans at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena against Abraham, Dirrell, in the piece, indicates that some of the fear and intimidation he felt concerning Abraham was lost during the pre-fight weigh-in.
"You always size up the other fighter when they take their shirt off and I take of mine. You look at these guys and you're like, 'Man, he's got this many knockouts,'" said Dirrell, who displayed more muscular features -- particularly around the adbomen -- than Abraham.
"You almost get so lost in thinking about it that you think that they're machines and you think that they're just built for this," said Dirrell. "But when you meet up with them, face-to-face, you see that he's just another man."
That notion actually bore itself out during the bout, which helped Dirrell to rebound from October's split-decision loss to WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 25 KOs), of Nottingham, England, who will defend his crown against Denmark's Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KOs) on April 24.
Meanwhile, on June 19, Green (29-1, 20 KOs), will go after the WBA title of Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KOs), who dethroned Kessler for that belt.
Lying in his hotel room the night before their bout, Dirrell lets on that he's "Still nervous."
"Being by myself, I get nervous. Confident as ever, but neverous," said Dirrell, peering at the weigh-in's stare-down photo of himself and Abraham, which he had programmed into his celular phone.
"I've got him right here," said Dirrell, holding the shot up to the Showtime cameras. "I've already got him focused in. 'I'm coming Abraham.' I've got him on my mind. It's just you and me buddy."
During the fighter meetings with Showtime officials earlier in the day, Abraham gave an intriguing assessment of Dirrell's performance against Froch.
"Dirrell did nothing. He'd run, run, run. So he does not win," said Abraham, swirling his right pointer finger around in circles for emphasis. "I want to only win. I'd like a KO in the first round. I want to finish it very quickly."
Of course, that is not what occurred.
"I'm feeling quite confident for our fight tonight," said Wilfried Sauerland, Abraham's promoter. "But you know with boxing, everything can happen."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
Rabu, 31 Maret 2010
Andre Dirrell Update -- FightNews
By Mariano A. Agmi, FightNews.com
Promoter Gary Shaw has provided an update on the condition of Andre Dirrell after the blow he suffered when Abraham landed a huge right hand to his head while he was down. “Andre suffered a concussion. One doctor thought he suffered a seizure. His thoughts were very scrambled. He went from yelling to everyone over at Showtime, ‘who called me a coward
’ to yelling ‘they knocked me out’ to ‘where’s the fight? I want to fight,’” stated Shaw. Shaw explained that the Michigan State Athletic Commission should have taken additional precautions when a disheveled Dirrell seemed disoriented and confused following the incident. “I think the fact that Michigan has not done a lot of big fights created some problems within the ring,” explained the promoter. “[Andre] should have been taken from the ring in a stretcher and transported immediately to the hospital. Instead he walked to the dressing room and while there was absolutely scrambled”.
Source: fightnews.com
Promoter Gary Shaw has provided an update on the condition of Andre Dirrell after the blow he suffered when Abraham landed a huge right hand to his head while he was down. “Andre suffered a concussion. One doctor thought he suffered a seizure. His thoughts were very scrambled. He went from yelling to everyone over at Showtime, ‘who called me a coward’ to yelling ‘they knocked me out’ to ‘where’s the fight? I want to fight,’” stated Shaw. Shaw explained that the Michigan State Athletic Commission should have taken additional precautions when a disheveled Dirrell seemed disoriented and confused following the incident. “I think the fact that Michigan has not done a lot of big fights created some problems within the ring,” explained the promoter. “[Andre] should have been taken from the ring in a stretcher and transported immediately to the hospital. Instead he walked to the dressing room and while there was absolutely scrambled”. Shaw also noted that Dirrell spent three hours undergoing neurological testing at the hospital and despite being cleared, was still visibly shaken. The promoter reported that Dirrell seemed better yesterday and would fully recover from the setback to battle against fellow American Olympian Andre Ward in Group Stage 3 of the tournament.
Source: fightnews.com
Why didn’t Dirrell have tears when he was crying? -- BoxingNews24
By Chris Williams, BoxingNews24.com
I don’t know if I was the only that noticed this or not, but when Andre Dirrell was crying after his 11th round disqualification victory over Arthur Abraham last Saturday night in their Super Six tournament fight in Detroit, Michigan. Dirrell had been easily winning most of the fight when he seemed to fade in the 10th round. In the 11th, Dirrell was running for his life from Abraham when he slipped on the canvas. Abraham, not one to waste a good opportunity, loaded up plastered the side of Dirrell’s head with a nice uppercut.
Dirrell had time enough to look at Abraham, grab his face, wince and then keel over on his side, looking like he was out cold for a brief moment. The fight was stopped at that point as the referee Lawrence Cole disqualified Abraham for the foul. I think it was a good call. I have no problem with that, but I was kind of confused about the crying that Dirrell did after he was revived by the ringside doctor.
Normally when a person cries, they have tears rolling down their face, but for some reason Dirrell had no tears whatsoever. I didn’t know what to think about it. I thought he was really hurt up until I noticed that there was no tears falling down his face, yet he was crying off and on for at least a minute. I’m not an expert crying, but as far as I can tell, a person usually produces tears when they cry.
I didn’t see any tears coming from Dirrell’s face. My question is why weren’t any tears falling down Dirrell’s face? That’s really weird. Was Dirrell really crying or just whining? If Dirrell was just whining, then I can understand the absence of tears. Whining can have tears or no tears. Whining is when a person complains in a tearful way, but it doesn’t need to have tears present.
Dirrell was clearly complaining after the fight, and looking really confused about what had happened. I don’t know whether that was because he was feeling the effects of the knockout or something else. If Dirrell was faking, then he might have not known how to act. I don’t whether Dirrell was hurt or not. All I do know is that I didn’t see any tears falling down his face when he was seemingly crying.
That was what struck me as kind of strange. When I see persons crying and no tears coming out, I tend to think they’re acting. When a person is genuinely upset, like in the loss of a loved one, it’s not something you can control. So for Dirrell to be crying and nothing coming down his face in the way of tears, I’m left wondering why that was.
Perhaps it was just a case of Dirrell just whining and not crying. It’s really hard to tell. Not too many people have said anything about Dirrell crying, so maybe it’s not a big deal with anyone. It just seemed a little strange to me that there weren’t any tears.
Abraham said after the fight that Dirrell was “a good actor.” I don’t know. If Dirrell was acting, I wouldn’t call it good acting, because a good actor would have been able to produce tears and I saw none from Dirrell last Saturday night. I don’t know if Dirrell was really hurt or not, but I guess I have to believe he was because no one in their right mind would go trough all the trouble to fake being knocked out.
Source: boxingnews24.com
Dirrell had time enough to look at Abraham, grab his face, wince and then keel over on his side, looking like he was out cold for a brief moment. The fight was stopped at that point as the referee Lawrence Cole disqualified Abraham for the foul. I think it was a good call. I have no problem with that, but I was kind of confused about the crying that Dirrell did after he was revived by the ringside doctor.
Normally when a person cries, they have tears rolling down their face, but for some reason Dirrell had no tears whatsoever. I didn’t know what to think about it. I thought he was really hurt up until I noticed that there was no tears falling down his face, yet he was crying off and on for at least a minute. I’m not an expert crying, but as far as I can tell, a person usually produces tears when they cry.
I didn’t see any tears coming from Dirrell’s face. My question is why weren’t any tears falling down Dirrell’s face? That’s really weird. Was Dirrell really crying or just whining? If Dirrell was just whining, then I can understand the absence of tears. Whining can have tears or no tears. Whining is when a person complains in a tearful way, but it doesn’t need to have tears present.
Dirrell was clearly complaining after the fight, and looking really confused about what had happened. I don’t know whether that was because he was feeling the effects of the knockout or something else. If Dirrell was faking, then he might have not known how to act. I don’t whether Dirrell was hurt or not. All I do know is that I didn’t see any tears falling down his face when he was seemingly crying.
That was what struck me as kind of strange. When I see persons crying and no tears coming out, I tend to think they’re acting. When a person is genuinely upset, like in the loss of a loved one, it’s not something you can control. So for Dirrell to be crying and nothing coming down his face in the way of tears, I’m left wondering why that was.
Perhaps it was just a case of Dirrell just whining and not crying. It’s really hard to tell. Not too many people have said anything about Dirrell crying, so maybe it’s not a big deal with anyone. It just seemed a little strange to me that there weren’t any tears.
Abraham said after the fight that Dirrell was “a good actor.” I don’t know. If Dirrell was acting, I wouldn’t call it good acting, because a good actor would have been able to produce tears and I saw none from Dirrell last Saturday night. I don’t know if Dirrell was really hurt or not, but I guess I have to believe he was because no one in their right mind would go trough all the trouble to fake being knocked out.
Source: boxingnews24.com
Arthur Abraham Still a Hero -- The Armenian Mirror-Spectator
By Edmond Y. Azadian, The Armenian Mirror-Spectator
To the credit of Armenians in Detroit we must say their show of support was tremendous. They were joined by a contingent of Armenians all the way from Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto.
The huge arena was alive with the Armenia tri color. Dirrell’s local fans were equally enthusiastic but also intimidating. Had the outcome of the match been different, many Armenians, and some of the referees would not come out alive, despite tight security.
Abraham had won 31 matches, 25 with knockout and no losses. He played a very ethical game, knowing full well the intention of the hostile media and the fans.
Dirrell was more athletic and he was able to avoid Abraham’s punishing punches — that is until the 11th round, when he was exhausted and was running around the ring like a scared rabbit.
Finally, Abraham cornered him and he was knocked down almost unconscious, when Abraham reached one for his finishing blow, while he was falling down. That was considered a penalty and he was disqualified.
Dirrell was taken to the hospital disoriented and doctors announced that he was being tested for brain damage. Though Dirrell was declared the “winner” of the match, Arthur Abraham is still a hero!
(Note: 337 articles appeared in the media on the fight, most biased against the “European.” This article aims to be more objective.)
Source: mirrorspectator.com
DETROIT — The much-anticipated fight between Arthur Abraham
and Andre Dirrell took place at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on March 27. The undefeated Armenian from Berlin, Germany was facing Michigan-native Dirrell.
and Andre Dirrell took place at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on March 27. The undefeated Armenian from Berlin, Germany was facing Michigan-native Dirrell. To the credit of Armenians in Detroit we must say their show of support was tremendous. They were joined by a contingent of Armenians all the way from Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto.
The huge arena was alive with the Armenia tri color. Dirrell’s local fans were equally enthusiastic but also intimidating. Had the outcome of the match been different, many Armenians, and some of the referees would not come out alive, despite tight security.
Abraham had won 31 matches, 25 with knockout and no losses. He played a very ethical game, knowing full well the intention of the hostile media and the fans.
Dirrell was more athletic and he was able to avoid Abraham’s punishing punches — that is until the 11th round, when he was exhausted and was running around the ring like a scared rabbit.
Finally, Abraham cornered him and he was knocked down almost unconscious, when Abraham reached one for his finishing blow, while he was falling down. That was considered a penalty and he was disqualified.
Dirrell was taken to the hospital disoriented and doctors announced that he was being tested for brain damage. Though Dirrell was declared the “winner” of the match, Arthur Abraham is still a hero!
(Note: 337 articles appeared in the media on the fight, most biased against the “European.” This article aims to be more objective.)
Source: mirrorspectator.com
Meeting of influential promoters nets few answers for boxing's woes -- Sports Illustrated
By Chris Mannix, SI.com
NEW YORK -- Those who love boxing are the ones hurting it the most. It's true. Just ask them.
On Tuesday afternoon, six of the most influential men in the sport -- promoters Lou DiBella, Dan Goossen, Gary Shaw, Kalle Sauerland and Mick Hennessy and Showtime exec Ken Hershman -- gathered with two dozen or so media members in a private room on the second floor of the Renaissance Hotel in Times Square. They were there to discuss the Super Six World Boxing Classic, Showtime's fledgling tournament that will eventually anoint the new face of the 168-pound weight class.
It began civilly enough. Hershman championed the competitiveness of the tournament thus far, a stretch punctuated by Andre Dirrell's controversial DQ win over former middleweight champ Arthur Abraham on Saturday. He cited the record viewership for Abraham-Dirrell (which was boosted by Showtime's free preview weekend, upping the number of available homes from 18 to 55 million) and the Congressional bill-thick stack of publicity for the tournament that sits on his desk.
"The interest," Hershman said, "is ratcheting up."
No discussion of the Super Six, however, can pass without talking about the health of the sport. And for the promoters, that's when the gloves came off.
Like wolves they attacked each other. Golden Boy was a particularly popular target. The promotional heavyweight -- which was not represented in the room -- was blasted for putting on the putrid Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr. card this Saturday, a $50 pay-per-view that isn't worth 50 cents. The fight was attacked. The undercard was attacked. The promoters were attacked.
"You expect people to tune in for three hours to watch that s---?" DiBella said.
"That undercard," Shaw said, "is a disgrace."
Even Hershman got his hands dirty. When asked about HBO's counterprogramming the Super Six with fights of its own, a visibly irritated Hershman called HBO's decision "intentional" and "regrettable" and said it was "unfortunate that [HBO] feels so threatened by this tournament that they think [counterprogramming] is their answer. Why don't you put on better fights instead of worrying about what we're doing?" HBO responded with a statement denying any counterprogramming, saying its goal was to "provide the best possible boxing matchups with the best fighters in the world."
But as their indignation grew, so did their hypocrisy. Because before any matchmaker can level accusations, each needs to take a long look in the mirror.
Consider: Sauerland Event and Top Rank blew the best middleweight title showdown in years when they nickel-and-dimed each other out of an Abraham-Kelly Pavlik match. More than 10,000 energized fans filled Newark's Prudential Center for Tomasz Adamek's win over Jason Estrada in February. So, of course, Adamek's next fight, against Goossen-controlled Chris Arreola, is 3,000 miles away in Ontario, California.
Then there is Don King, who could be the most subversive force in boxing today. DK has had a particularly unsettling stretch: He has buried prospect Devon Alexander, sabotaged a light heavyweight title fight between Glen Johnson and Tavoris Cloud, blown up an exciting cruiserweight match between Steve Cunningham and Matt Godfrey and priced lumbering heavyweight Nikolai Valuev right out of a fight with Vitali Klitschko, one of the only heavyweight fights out there that could generate any real interest.
In an effort to line their pockets with a little bit of extra change, promoters -- who have grown fat with the riches of casino money -- have hamstrung the sport with their own shortsightedness. It's not the rise of MMA that has hurt boxing, a thinking many have come to adopt. It's boxing itself.
"MMA didn't take boxing and put it in the shape that it's in," DiBella said. "We did. Sometimes I'm the first to mention MMA to other promoters and they say, 'Shut your mouth,' and they are right. We have to worry about our own sport. We have to make sure we are providing compelling entertainment. In our sport, we shove s--- down people's throats, and they are supposed to be interested in it?"
There are signs of progress. On April 10, DiBella will put on an HBO card headlined by explosive welterweight champion Andre Berto, who will defend his title against former titlist Carlos Quintana. A solid undercard featuring a matchup between former junior featherweight champion Celestino Cabellero and featherweight prospect Daud Yordan and a look at highly touted prospect Guillermo Rigondeaux strengthens the show. And as puzzling as the decision to move Adamek-Arreola out of New Jersey is, it's an explosive matchup between two quality heavyweights.
The Super Six will move forward, too. In April, Carl Froch will defend his title against Mikkel Kessler. And in June, Andre Ward will defend his belt against Allan Green.
You can't fill a crater with one shovelful of dirt. And as brilliant an idea as the Super Six is, it can't fill the hole boxing has dug by itself. It needs help. And the promoters are the only ones who can provide it. They talked a lot during the two-hour meeting in Manhattan. Now it's time to go out and back it up.
Source: sportsillustrated.cnn.com
NEW YORK -- Those who love boxing are the ones hurting it the most. It's true. Just ask them.
On Tuesday afternoon, six of the most influential men in the sport -- promoters Lou DiBella, Dan Goossen, Gary Shaw, Kalle Sauerland and Mick Hennessy and Showtime exec Ken Hershman -- gathered with two dozen or so media members in a private room on the second floor of the Renaissance Hotel in Times Square. They were there to discuss the Super Six World Boxing Classic, Showtime's fledgling tournament that will eventually anoint the new face of the 168-pound weight class.
It began civilly enough. Hershman championed the competitiveness of the tournament thus far, a stretch punctuated by Andre Dirrell's controversial DQ win over former middleweight champ Arthur Abraham on Saturday. He cited the record viewership for Abraham-Dirrell (which was boosted by Showtime's free preview weekend, upping the number of available homes from 18 to 55 million) and the Congressional bill-thick stack of publicity for the tournament that sits on his desk."The interest," Hershman said, "is ratcheting up."Like wolves they attacked each other. Golden Boy was a particularly popular target. The promotional heavyweight -- which was not represented in the room -- was blasted for putting on the putrid Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr. card this Saturday, a $50 pay-per-view that isn't worth 50 cents. The fight was attacked. The undercard was attacked. The promoters were attacked.
"You expect people to tune in for three hours to watch that s---?" DiBella said.
"That undercard," Shaw said, "is a disgrace."
Even Hershman got his hands dirty. When asked about HBO's counterprogramming the Super Six with fights of its own, a visibly irritated Hershman called HBO's decision "intentional" and "regrettable" and said it was "unfortunate that [HBO] feels so threatened by this tournament that they think [counterprogramming] is their answer. Why don't you put on better fights instead of worrying about what we're doing?" HBO responded with a statement denying any counterprogramming, saying its goal was to "provide the best possible boxing matchups with the best fighters in the world."
But as their indignation grew, so did their hypocrisy. Because before any matchmaker can level accusations, each needs to take a long look in the mirror.
Consider: Sauerland Event and Top Rank blew the best middleweight title showdown in years when they nickel-and-dimed each other out of an Abraham-Kelly Pavlik match. More than 10,000 energized fans filled Newark's Prudential Center for Tomasz Adamek's win over Jason Estrada in February. So, of course, Adamek's next fight, against Goossen-controlled Chris Arreola, is 3,000 miles away in Ontario, California.
Then there is Don King, who could be the most subversive force in boxing today. DK has had a particularly unsettling stretch: He has buried prospect Devon Alexander, sabotaged a light heavyweight title fight between Glen Johnson and Tavoris Cloud, blown up an exciting cruiserweight match between Steve Cunningham and Matt Godfrey and priced lumbering heavyweight Nikolai Valuev right out of a fight with Vitali Klitschko, one of the only heavyweight fights out there that could generate any real interest.
In an effort to line their pockets with a little bit of extra change, promoters -- who have grown fat with the riches of casino money -- have hamstrung the sport with their own shortsightedness. It's not the rise of MMA that has hurt boxing, a thinking many have come to adopt. It's boxing itself.
"MMA didn't take boxing and put it in the shape that it's in," DiBella said. "We did. Sometimes I'm the first to mention MMA to other promoters and they say, 'Shut your mouth,' and they are right. We have to worry about our own sport. We have to make sure we are providing compelling entertainment. In our sport, we shove s--- down people's throats, and they are supposed to be interested in it?"
There are signs of progress. On April 10, DiBella will put on an HBO card headlined by explosive welterweight champion Andre Berto, who will defend his title against former titlist Carlos Quintana. A solid undercard featuring a matchup between former junior featherweight champion Celestino Cabellero and featherweight prospect Daud Yordan and a look at highly touted prospect Guillermo Rigondeaux strengthens the show. And as puzzling as the decision to move Adamek-Arreola out of New Jersey is, it's an explosive matchup between two quality heavyweights.
The Super Six will move forward, too. In April, Carl Froch will defend his title against Mikkel Kessler. And in June, Andre Ward will defend his belt against Allan Green.
You can't fill a crater with one shovelful of dirt. And as brilliant an idea as the Super Six is, it can't fill the hole boxing has dug by itself. It needs help. And the promoters are the only ones who can provide it. They talked a lot during the two-hour meeting in Manhattan. Now it's time to go out and back it up.
Source: sportsillustrated.cnn.com
Andre Dirrell: 'I Executed Perfectly' -- FanHouse
By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
Accused of "Running scared," following October's split-decision loss to WBC super middleweight (168 pounds) champion, Carl Froch (26-0, 25 knockouts), former Olympic bronze medalist, Andre Dirrell, had something to prove entering last Saturday's group stage No. 2 bout with unbeaten, former, middleweight (160 pounds) king, Arthur Abraham, before Dirrell's partisan fans at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena.
Not only was Abraham's peek-a-boo defense perceived to be impregnable, but he was coming off of a 12th-round knockout of former undisputed world middleweight titlist, Jermain Taylor, was after his ninth knockout in his past 10 fights, and his third straight stoppage victory.
But it was the 27-year-old Dirrell who emerged the signature performance of his young career, flooring the 30-year-old Abraham for the first time his career in the fourth round with a long, counter-left hand, slicing a cut beneath his right eye with a seventh-round, left hook, and frustrating the Armenian-born fighter into a bout-ending, 11th-round foul.
Abraham (31-1, 25 KOs) lost his first, professional bout by disqualification at 1:13 of the 11th, as Dirrell rose to 19-1, with 13 knockouts in their Showtime-televised, Super Middleweight World Boxing Classic bout.
Dirrell spoke to FanHouse in this Q&A about the fight, the future of the tournament, and the victory's impact on his career.
FanHouse: During the immediate moments after the fight, I understand that you were under the impression that you had been knocked out?
Andre Dirrell: Yes, I did. I did. I heard the commotion, and then, I saw my brother jump into the ring. So I didn't know what had happened once I saw that. But I knew that I was low in that corner, I just didn't realize that I was on a knee. I remember the doctors asking me where I was, but I didn't remember any of the punches or anything like that.
I just figured that I was just in the corner and got caught. I remember the fight. I remembered, like, certain rounds of the fight, like, seven rounds of the fight. I thought that it was a lot closer than when I finally watched the tape. But there was so much commotion that I couldn't even think. I couldn't think of nothing.
When you get hit, like I had gotten dropped as an amateur, and you just hear the whole crowd, and you're like in a dream. So I got up, heard a bunch of commotion, a bunch of people were around. My head was hurting really bad. And I just couldn't focus. My mind wasn't on anything but what had happened.
I'm thinking that I had gotten dropped and I'm hearing the crowd going crazy, so I was think that was pretty much it.
FH: Who was the first person who told you that you had in fact been declared the winner?
Dirrell: My big brother, Willie, he's one of the corner men. And he was like, 'Andre, you won, man, you did your job. You did what you were supposed to do.' And I was like, 'What?' And he was like, 'You dropped him, man. And he got disqualified, man. You was whuppin him, man.' That's all that I kept hearing was that he got disqualified.
FH: So can you tell me about the experience of watching the replay of the fight on tape?
Dirrell: I watched the whole fight. I couldn't stand watching the end. I could not stand watching the end. But as I watched the fight, I was executing perfectly. I was using all of my abilities that I had and the abilities that he couldn't handle to beat him in that fight.
Like I said, I was in training camp, and it was a hard training camp. I knew exactly what I had to work on, and I believe that I executed perfectly. It was a beautifully executed fight -- the way that a boxer is supposed to beat a brawler. I saw that I was given round after round. There were very few flaws.
I was even surprised by my performance. I didn't see holding and I didn't see running. I just utilized the ring well. I thought that it was a beautiful fight, man. It was a beautiful master piece leading up to the disqualification.
FH: Whom did you watch the fight with?
Dirrell: My fiance, Alaia Zamora, was with me watching it. I was still anticipating waiting the whole time until the punch had come. It was explained to me when I got hit, where I got hit at, but I still didn't expect it to be the way that it was. I thought that I had gotten hit in the temple, because my temple was very sore.
My head was hurting really bad like I said, and my jaws were hurting. And when I watched the fight, I actually saw that I had slipped, went to get back up, and so I'm more or less up on all fours, looking down. And then he brings the hook in and connected right on my jaw. I believe that my mouth was open a little bit.
And I hated watching it. I didn't even want the camera on me. I hated watching it. It wasn't a good feeling.
FH: How so?
Dirrell: I really believe that he took my shine. Even if people say that I was acting, or taking a dive, even if so, and that was 100 percent true, he brought that disqualification on himself. He did that. A lot of people are judging my character when they should be judging his.
Everybody thought that Arthur Abraham was a nice guy who walks around and smiles all day. Even me, I thought that he had a great personality and seemed like a good guy to be around. But when you're in a losing situation, how do you handle yourself then?
When your backs against the ropes, how do you handle yourself then? He showed it. And it's really tough for me to digest. I just wanted that legitimate win, being that I had lost to Carl Froch, and I wanted to bounce back and show the world that that loss didn't affect me mentally.
And I did that, but I didn't get the glorified things that I should have. I didn't get that in-ring interview. I didn't get to go to a post-fight press conference. It was just tough for me to swallow. It's tough for me to swallow right now, it really is. No matter how good that I looked, I wish that I could have finished that fight legitimately.
I watched the tape twice, and I've watched it for the last time. I'm not going to watch it again, and that's a guarantee. I looked at it and I saw where I was on the canvas. I watched me throw a jab on the way down. My legs slipped, and I slid down. He backed up a bit off of that punch, looked at me the whole time, came up and just stared and really just hit me.
After being on the ground for 1.2 seconds. It was a shot that he felt that he had to take, and we all know that he wouldn't done that if he was leading on the score cards. It wouldn't have happened.
FH: Was there a moment in the fight where you knew that you were in complete control?
Dirrell: It was pretty much the first round, as awkward as it sounds. I know that he's a slow starter, but at the same time, I knew that his ability to handle pressure wouldn't be that heavy. I pretty much knew that if I stuck to my game plan that it was going to be pretty easy.
Once I felt him out in the first couple of rounds, I figured that he would start to feel the pressure. I was pretty confident from the first round on.
FH: What particular punches do you believe had the most effect?
Dirrell: I honestly believe that it was the straight punches. A lot of times I wouId throw the straight left down to the body, and turn out, and that was confusing because he never knew whether I was going to throw to the top or the bottom, or to the body or the head. And most of the straight lefts that I shot to the body, I would come right back around to the top with a looping left hook.
That would get right around his defense, and that started to confuse him down the line. So the straight punches were pretty much the most effective punshes for me because they set up everything else.
FH: Were there any punches that you felt he was concerned about as far as potentially being knocked out?
Dirrell: I honestly believe that the left hand would have knocked him out and was hurting him the most and was the most effective as far as power punches go. And I believe that once he felt my power, that he knew that if I landed the right shots, that I could take him out.
I didn't throw enough uppercuts in the fight, and I wish that I had. Because a lot of the punches that he threw were those leaping, looping punches. That's when I would step to the side. For example, when I dropped him the first time, I stepped to the side of his looping punches and came right over the top with the left hand, I could have done that a lot of times in the fight.
But for the most part, I was just keeping my composure and boxing and not looking for the knockout, and that's how the big punches landed. So, there was a possibility, even after the stoppage, that I could have stopped him in around the 11th or 12th round.
FH: Is there any consolation that you thrilled your home crowd?
Dirrell: It really felt awesome, man. It was the best feeling in the world. I haven't had a home fight in a long time. The one that I had before in Flint, that was the beginning of my professional career, but it was nothing compared to this. I knew that my crowd was going to bring out the best in me, and I knew that I would feed off of the crowd's energy.
I knew that it was going to be my best performance yet. I haven't heard a single fan tell me that it wasn't my best performance -- everyone that I've talked to. I didn't run, and I didn't grapple, I moved just enough. Slight movements made the biggest difference.
Running would have just built his confidence, but being right there in his face, giving him small turns and coming back with punches, that was going to confuse him. I did just that, and I truly believe that I did everything that I didn't do in the Froch fight.
FH: Where are you reading or hearing that you took a dive or whatever?
Dirrell: The European fans. I've already gotten like 250, more than that in requests on Twitter. And they're still coming in. You have a few guys telling me that I was acting. And I'll tell them, 'Well you let the strongest guy at 178, or 168, and, 160 hit you while you're on the floor and let's see just how you act?'
I fed into one because it was very blatant and it was just blatantly disrepectful. But the rest of them, I ignored them.
FH: What does it say about you and Andre Ward that you beat the two guys who were perceived favorites in Kessler and Abraham?
Dirrell: We were supposed to b e the underdogs, but I said it before that this tournament was made for us. We're the two, superior boxers, we're the fighters that people want to see the most of and see what we can bring to the table. They want to see if we can handle the pressure, and we've answered all of the questions.
Because we're so talented, and because we're so young, and because we're in our prime, then, this tournament has to be focused on us. They just want to see if we can cut it or not. There's no oen I've ever faced in sparring or boxing period that hits as hard as Abraham did.
Abraham is the hardest-hitting guy I've ever faced, period. Mikkel Kessler speaks for himself, more than 40 fights. They wanted to see how well we could do, and we answered all of those questions. From this moment on, the fans will pay close attention to us when we fight.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
Accused of "Running scared," following October's split-decision loss to WBC super middleweight (168 pounds) champion, Carl Froch (26-0, 25 knockouts), former Olympic bronze medalist, Andre Dirrell, had something to prove entering last Saturday's group stage No. 2 bout with unbeaten, former, middleweight (160 pounds) king, Arthur Abraham, before Dirrell's partisan fans at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena.Not only was Abraham's peek-a-boo defense perceived to be impregnable, but he was coming off of a 12th-round knockout of former undisputed world middleweight titlist, Jermain Taylor, was after his ninth knockout in his past 10 fights, and his third straight stoppage victory.
But it was the 27-year-old Dirrell who emerged the signature performance of his young career, flooring the 30-year-old Abraham for the first time his career in the fourth round with a long, counter-left hand, slicing a cut beneath his right eye with a seventh-round, left hook, and frustrating the Armenian-born fighter into a bout-ending, 11th-round foul.
Abraham (31-1, 25 KOs) lost his first, professional bout by disqualification at 1:13 of the 11th, as Dirrell rose to 19-1, with 13 knockouts in their Showtime-televised, Super Middleweight World Boxing Classic bout.
Dirrell spoke to FanHouse in this Q&A about the fight, the future of the tournament, and the victory's impact on his career.
FanHouse: During the immediate moments after the fight, I understand that you were under the impression that you had been knocked out?
Andre Dirrell: Yes, I did. I did. I heard the commotion, and then, I saw my brother jump into the ring. So I didn't know what had happened once I saw that. But I knew that I was low in that corner, I just didn't realize that I was on a knee. I remember the doctors asking me where I was, but I didn't remember any of the punches or anything like that.
I just figured that I was just in the corner and got caught. I remember the fight. I remembered, like, certain rounds of the fight, like, seven rounds of the fight. I thought that it was a lot closer than when I finally watched the tape. But there was so much commotion that I couldn't even think. I couldn't think of nothing.
When you get hit, like I had gotten dropped as an amateur, and you just hear the whole crowd, and you're like in a dream. So I got up, heard a bunch of commotion, a bunch of people were around. My head was hurting really bad. And I just couldn't focus. My mind wasn't on anything but what had happened.
I'm thinking that I had gotten dropped and I'm hearing the crowd going crazy, so I was think that was pretty much it.
FH: Who was the first person who told you that you had in fact been declared the winner?
Dirrell: My big brother, Willie, he's one of the corner men. And he was like, 'Andre, you won, man, you did your job. You did what you were supposed to do.' And I was like, 'What?' And he was like, 'You dropped him, man. And he got disqualified, man. You was whuppin him, man.' That's all that I kept hearing was that he got disqualified.
FH: So can you tell me about the experience of watching the replay of the fight on tape?
Dirrell: I watched the whole fight. I couldn't stand watching the end. I could not stand watching the end. But as I watched the fight, I was executing perfectly. I was using all of my abilities that I had and the abilities that he couldn't handle to beat him in that fight.
Like I said, I was in training camp, and it was a hard training camp. I knew exactly what I had to work on, and I believe that I executed perfectly. It was a beautifully executed fight -- the way that a boxer is supposed to beat a brawler. I saw that I was given round after round. There were very few flaws.
I was even surprised by my performance. I didn't see holding and I didn't see running. I just utilized the ring well. I thought that it was a beautiful fight, man. It was a beautiful master piece leading up to the disqualification.
FH: Whom did you watch the fight with?
Dirrell: My fiance, Alaia Zamora, was with me watching it. I was still anticipating waiting the whole time until the punch had come. It was explained to me when I got hit, where I got hit at, but I still didn't expect it to be the way that it was. I thought that I had gotten hit in the temple, because my temple was very sore.
My head was hurting really bad like I said, and my jaws were hurting. And when I watched the fight, I actually saw that I had slipped, went to get back up, and so I'm more or less up on all fours, looking down. And then he brings the hook in and connected right on my jaw. I believe that my mouth was open a little bit.
And I hated watching it. I didn't even want the camera on me. I hated watching it. It wasn't a good feeling.
FH: How so?
Dirrell: I really believe that he took my shine. Even if people say that I was acting, or taking a dive, even if so, and that was 100 percent true, he brought that disqualification on himself. He did that. A lot of people are judging my character when they should be judging his.
Everybody thought that Arthur Abraham was a nice guy who walks around and smiles all day. Even me, I thought that he had a great personality and seemed like a good guy to be around. But when you're in a losing situation, how do you handle yourself then?
When your backs against the ropes, how do you handle yourself then? He showed it. And it's really tough for me to digest. I just wanted that legitimate win, being that I had lost to Carl Froch, and I wanted to bounce back and show the world that that loss didn't affect me mentally.
And I did that, but I didn't get the glorified things that I should have. I didn't get that in-ring interview. I didn't get to go to a post-fight press conference. It was just tough for me to swallow. It's tough for me to swallow right now, it really is. No matter how good that I looked, I wish that I could have finished that fight legitimately.
I watched the tape twice, and I've watched it for the last time. I'm not going to watch it again, and that's a guarantee. I looked at it and I saw where I was on the canvas. I watched me throw a jab on the way down. My legs slipped, and I slid down. He backed up a bit off of that punch, looked at me the whole time, came up and just stared and really just hit me.
After being on the ground for 1.2 seconds. It was a shot that he felt that he had to take, and we all know that he wouldn't done that if he was leading on the score cards. It wouldn't have happened.
FH: Was there a moment in the fight where you knew that you were in complete control?
Dirrell: It was pretty much the first round, as awkward as it sounds. I know that he's a slow starter, but at the same time, I knew that his ability to handle pressure wouldn't be that heavy. I pretty much knew that if I stuck to my game plan that it was going to be pretty easy.
Once I felt him out in the first couple of rounds, I figured that he would start to feel the pressure. I was pretty confident from the first round on.
FH: What particular punches do you believe had the most effect?
Dirrell: I honestly believe that it was the straight punches. A lot of times I wouId throw the straight left down to the body, and turn out, and that was confusing because he never knew whether I was going to throw to the top or the bottom, or to the body or the head. And most of the straight lefts that I shot to the body, I would come right back around to the top with a looping left hook.
That would get right around his defense, and that started to confuse him down the line. So the straight punches were pretty much the most effective punshes for me because they set up everything else.
FH: Were there any punches that you felt he was concerned about as far as potentially being knocked out?
Dirrell: I honestly believe that the left hand would have knocked him out and was hurting him the most and was the most effective as far as power punches go. And I believe that once he felt my power, that he knew that if I landed the right shots, that I could take him out.
I didn't throw enough uppercuts in the fight, and I wish that I had. Because a lot of the punches that he threw were those leaping, looping punches. That's when I would step to the side. For example, when I dropped him the first time, I stepped to the side of his looping punches and came right over the top with the left hand, I could have done that a lot of times in the fight.
But for the most part, I was just keeping my composure and boxing and not looking for the knockout, and that's how the big punches landed. So, there was a possibility, even after the stoppage, that I could have stopped him in around the 11th or 12th round.
FH: Is there any consolation that you thrilled your home crowd?
Dirrell: It really felt awesome, man. It was the best feeling in the world. I haven't had a home fight in a long time. The one that I had before in Flint, that was the beginning of my professional career, but it was nothing compared to this. I knew that my crowd was going to bring out the best in me, and I knew that I would feed off of the crowd's energy.
I knew that it was going to be my best performance yet. I haven't heard a single fan tell me that it wasn't my best performance -- everyone that I've talked to. I didn't run, and I didn't grapple, I moved just enough. Slight movements made the biggest difference.
Running would have just built his confidence, but being right there in his face, giving him small turns and coming back with punches, that was going to confuse him. I did just that, and I truly believe that I did everything that I didn't do in the Froch fight.
FH: Where are you reading or hearing that you took a dive or whatever?
Dirrell: The European fans. I've already gotten like 250, more than that in requests on Twitter. And they're still coming in. You have a few guys telling me that I was acting. And I'll tell them, 'Well you let the strongest guy at 178, or 168, and, 160 hit you while you're on the floor and let's see just how you act?'
I fed into one because it was very blatant and it was just blatantly disrepectful. But the rest of them, I ignored them.
FH: What does it say about you and Andre Ward that you beat the two guys who were perceived favorites in Kessler and Abraham?
Dirrell: We were supposed to b e the underdogs, but I said it before that this tournament was made for us. We're the two, superior boxers, we're the fighters that people want to see the most of and see what we can bring to the table. They want to see if we can handle the pressure, and we've answered all of the questions.
Because we're so talented, and because we're so young, and because we're in our prime, then, this tournament has to be focused on us. They just want to see if we can cut it or not. There's no oen I've ever faced in sparring or boxing period that hits as hard as Abraham did.
Abraham is the hardest-hitting guy I've ever faced, period. Mikkel Kessler speaks for himself, more than 40 fights. They wanted to see how well we could do, and we answered all of those questions. From this moment on, the fans will pay close attention to us when we fight.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
Senin, 29 Maret 2010
Referee Laurence Cole speaks exclusively about Dirrell vs. Abraham -- Examiner
By Matt Stolow, Examiner.com
Referee Laurence Cole, 46, who worked the controversial Andre Dirrell vs. Arthur Abraham
fight Saturday night, gave me an exclusive 40-minute interview Monday afternoon covering virtually all aspects of the fight in which home-state hero Dirrell was awarded an 11th-round disqualification victory over Germany's Abraham at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit televised live worldwide on Showtime.
"Nobody wants to see endings like Saturday night, but it was a relatively easy fight to work for me," said Cole from his Dallas, Texas insurance office. "The only controversy is coming from the Abraham camp and they simply have to take responsibility that their fighter threw an illegal blow causing the DQ," he added.
Dirrell was well ahead on all three scorecards going into the fateful 11th round. But, in the 10th, Abraham had started to turn the fight around with his constant pressure and had seemingly scored a knockdown, but Cole ruled the sequence differently.
The corner of the then-undefeated Abraham, now 31-1, (25 KO's), was desperate and livid at Cole at that point.
"Abraham threw a legal blow, but we had a southpaw (Dirrell) against an orthodox fighter (Abraham) and their feet were tangled up causing Dirrel to go down. The punch on its own, I ruled, wouldn't have knocked Dirrell down so there was no knockdown in that instance," said Cole.
Dirrell, 19-1 (13 KO's), had run out a minute and 47 seconds of the 11th round before he slipped in Abraham's corner on either a canvas logo or a wet spot and went down on a knee and one gloved hand, similar to a three-point stance in football.
"Dirrell's head was looking straight ahead but still below Abraham's waist when Abraham threw his right hand and hit Dirrell's jaw. I didn't think it was a devastating punch, but that's not my decision to make. I personally didn't think he would throw the punch.
"The Germans are saying I wasn't in position and blew the whole fight, but I was just off Abraham's right hip.
"If I was any closer they would have complained I was in the way."
Cole directed Abraham into a neutral corner and within four or five seconds was trying to communicate with Dirrell, who had fallen to the canvas.
"I have no idea if Dirrell was acting or not at that point. But he didn't respond to my questions so immediately I had to call for medical assistance and stop the fight. That's my training and that's my responsibility. Abraham was automatically disqualified for throwing an illegal blow.
"Rule No. 1 in boxing, going back to the amateurs: Everybody knows you don't strike someone when they are down. No exceptions. You can't allow a boxer to be knocked out twice."
Cole said giving Dirrell five minutes to recover and taking away points from Abraham was not an option because that's only for a body punch.
Cole said he heard Showtime boxing analyst Al Bernstein said he (Cole) had no alternative but to stop the fight.
"The German corner told me, in the heat of the moment afterward, that I would never work another of their fights. I can live with that.
"I really didn't have to touch the two fighters in the first four rounds."
The two corners actually became quite heated in the sixth round.
Dirrell knocked Abraham back into the ropes and he would have fallen, costing the Armenian-born fighter a point. But Cole ruled it was caused by a slap of a Dirrell glove where the laces are bound by tape and thus a point wasn't taken. The Dirrell camp was upset as it was pivotal at the time.
Cole is a veteran of 52 world title fights including three with an in-his-prime Oscar De La Hoya and the first bout between Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera. He has also to his memory worked 50-80 fights that were either eliminators or minor 12-round title fights. He started professionally at age 25.
Cole has worked three world title fights in the past six weeks featuring controversial Venezuelan Edwin Valero, the Humberto Soto vs. David Diaz fight in Dallas underneath Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey and Saturday night's eliminator between Dirrell and Abraham sanctioned by the World Boxing Council (WBC).
Source: examiner.com
Referee Laurence Cole, 46, who worked the controversial Andre Dirrell vs. Arthur Abraham fight Saturday night, gave me an exclusive 40-minute interview Monday afternoon covering virtually all aspects of the fight in which home-state hero Dirrell was awarded an 11th-round disqualification victory over Germany's Abraham at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit televised live worldwide on Showtime."Nobody wants to see endings like Saturday night, but it was a relatively easy fight to work for me," said Cole from his Dallas, Texas insurance office. "The only controversy is coming from the Abraham camp and they simply have to take responsibility that their fighter threw an illegal blow causing the DQ," he added.
Dirrell was well ahead on all three scorecards going into the fateful 11th round. But, in the 10th, Abraham had started to turn the fight around with his constant pressure and had seemingly scored a knockdown, but Cole ruled the sequence differently.
The corner of the then-undefeated Abraham, now 31-1, (25 KO's), was desperate and livid at Cole at that point.
"Abraham threw a legal blow, but we had a southpaw (Dirrell) against an orthodox fighter (Abraham) and their feet were tangled up causing Dirrel to go down. The punch on its own, I ruled, wouldn't have knocked Dirrell down so there was no knockdown in that instance," said Cole.
Dirrell, 19-1 (13 KO's), had run out a minute and 47 seconds of the 11th round before he slipped in Abraham's corner on either a canvas logo or a wet spot and went down on a knee and one gloved hand, similar to a three-point stance in football.
"Dirrell's head was looking straight ahead but still below Abraham's waist when Abraham threw his right hand and hit Dirrell's jaw. I didn't think it was a devastating punch, but that's not my decision to make. I personally didn't think he would throw the punch.
"The Germans are saying I wasn't in position and blew the whole fight, but I was just off Abraham's right hip.
"If I was any closer they would have complained I was in the way."
Cole directed Abraham into a neutral corner and within four or five seconds was trying to communicate with Dirrell, who had fallen to the canvas.
"I have no idea if Dirrell was acting or not at that point. But he didn't respond to my questions so immediately I had to call for medical assistance and stop the fight. That's my training and that's my responsibility. Abraham was automatically disqualified for throwing an illegal blow.
"Rule No. 1 in boxing, going back to the amateurs: Everybody knows you don't strike someone when they are down. No exceptions. You can't allow a boxer to be knocked out twice."
Cole said giving Dirrell five minutes to recover and taking away points from Abraham was not an option because that's only for a body punch.
Cole said he heard Showtime boxing analyst Al Bernstein said he (Cole) had no alternative but to stop the fight.
"The German corner told me, in the heat of the moment afterward, that I would never work another of their fights. I can live with that.
"I really didn't have to touch the two fighters in the first four rounds."
The two corners actually became quite heated in the sixth round.
Dirrell knocked Abraham back into the ropes and he would have fallen, costing the Armenian-born fighter a point. But Cole ruled it was caused by a slap of a Dirrell glove where the laces are bound by tape and thus a point wasn't taken. The Dirrell camp was upset as it was pivotal at the time.
Cole is a veteran of 52 world title fights including three with an in-his-prime Oscar De La Hoya and the first bout between Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera. He has also to his memory worked 50-80 fights that were either eliminators or minor 12-round title fights. He started professionally at age 25.
Cole has worked three world title fights in the past six weeks featuring controversial Venezuelan Edwin Valero, the Humberto Soto vs. David Diaz fight in Dallas underneath Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey and Saturday night's eliminator between Dirrell and Abraham sanctioned by the World Boxing Council (WBC).
Source: examiner.com
Serious as can be -- 15Rounds
By Bart Barry, 15Rounds.com
Keep Andre Dirrell in your prayers. What happened to him Saturday is graver than a disqualification victory. It’s about Dirrell being struck with a right uppercut on the chin and then reaching for a spot over his left eye. It’s not about a breach of sportsmanship by Arthur Abraham. It’s about Dirrell needing ice eight inches from where Abraham hit him.
What a terrible way to get two points in Showtime’s Super Six World Boxing Classic.
Saturday in Detroit, American Andre Dirrell got those two points when Armenian Arthur Abraham got disqualified for an intentional foul at 1:13 of round 11. Behind by prohibitive margins on all scorecards, Abraham landed a perfect right uppercut with Dirrell on the seat of his trunks after he slipped on a Cemex Tolteca ad on the canvas.
Abraham still leads the tournament with the three points he won in October. That’s the best that can be said after his second trip to the United States from Germany, where he resides. The rest comprises the derogatory things now being thought about him in America, a country that’s still pretty important to the prizefighting world.
In some sense both men were victims of Abraham’s concussive power Saturday. Had Abraham missed with his right hand he might have stopped Dirrell in the five minutes that remained. Dirrell was fading. Had Abraham caught Dirrell with a glancing, or anyhow less-effective, punch he would have lost a point that didn’t matter anyway – à la Marco Antonio Barrera against Juan Manuel Marquez. Instead he knocked Dirrell senseless and left referee Laurence Cole no choice but to disqualify him. His record is now blemished in more than one way.
That’s nothing compared to what Abraham’s right hand may have done to Dirrell, who was on the precipice of a career-defining victory.
Gone were so many of the bad habits that had ruined Dirrell’s last fight with Carl Froch. In Saturday’s first six rounds Dirrell damn near threw a shutout against an undefeated former world champion. He threw leveraged, scientific punches, looped correctly round Abraham’s customarily high guard. He slipped punches like he wanted to counter them, not just impress his boys back home. He did almost everything the professional way.
Almost everything. There was one glaringly amateurish trait that survived Dirrell’s training camp. It happened five or six times. It was his move to the right. It was all wrong. Hands at his waist, feet crossed, chin pointed skyward, Dirrell leaped away from Abraham’s left hook. It made Abraham look ridiculous and slow. But to learned eyes, it made Dirrell look ridiculous, too.
Guess what Dirrell was doing when he slipped in the first minute of the 11th round. Dropped in the 10th from a right cross, Dirrell began the 11th wisely intending to play Keep Away. But he unwisely switched from Andre Dirrell to “The Matrix
” – the kid with too much athleticism for his own good – and began to bounce back and forth, hands low. He Matrixed rightward. His right foot landed on the ‘x’ in Cemex – the sticker wet and frictionless – and his legs splayed.
That has to be the last thing Dirrell remembers from Saturday.
His hands on the canvas, Dirrell looked at Abraham’s onrushing right fist. The punch landed on the left side of his chin. Dirrell appeared disappointed, betrayed. Then the left side of his face contorted. Dirrell closed his left eye and brought his left glove to his forehead. He did not rub where he’d been struck. Rather he rubbed the place his jarred brain would have struck its protective shell. He rolled on his back. His legs began to shake involuntarily. It was ugly and frightening.
Abraham stood to the side, believing Dirrell was being theatrical – a belief he confirmed afterwards – and disbelieving he was about to lose by disqualification. What Abraham did was intentional. He deserved the result he got. But what Abraham did was not premeditated. That must be remembered.
Imagine you are Arthur Abraham. Like any man in the 31st minute of a championship prizefight, you’re more than a little buzzed from your opponent’s punches. You are desperate to sink your knuckles in the other man’s flesh. He has hit you repeatedly. He has taunted you. He has also been to the canvas minutes before. He is weakened and slowing. You have to render him unconscious or you lose.
For a half hour, he has evaded you with unorthodox moves. He drops his hands, changes levels and swoops away. You have cornered him. He struck the top of your chest with a jab after his head dropped oddly away. Now his hands are down. He is absolutely defenseless. That is a green light for you, not a red one. You throw the right hand you have cocked. You finish the defenseless man because that’s your job.
Moral judgments on Abraham need not apply here. Within the relative world of prizefighting, Abraham broke the rules and received a proper punishment. Had Dirrell been just as defenseless while standing, though – out on his feet, hands down – we’d be applauding Abraham as a great finisher for throwing that right hand.
None of this relativity helps Dirrell – a fighter about whom many things became more serious Saturday in Joe Louis Arena. If he is able to return to previous form, if subsequent tests come back negative, that is, expect the last vestiges of “The Matrix” to go away. Expect a far less playful guy in the ring. Expect a man who uses his athleticism to hurt other men. Expect some resentment at the end of those punches.
Expect that everything about Andre Dirrell just got a lot more serious.
Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com/bartbarry
Source: 15rounds.com
Keep Andre Dirrell in your prayers. What happened to him Saturday is graver than a disqualification victory. It’s about Dirrell being struck with a right uppercut on the chin and then reaching for a spot over his left eye. It’s not about a breach of sportsmanship by Arthur Abraham. It’s about Dirrell needing ice eight inches from where Abraham hit him.
It’s about Dirrell’s incoherence after the fight. It’s about his crying, “I’m hurt, man!” It’s about the way he winced and scrunched the left side of his face. It’s about an ambulance ride to the hospital for a CT scan
– apparently negative, thankfully.
– apparently negative, thankfully.What a terrible way to get two points in Showtime’s Super Six World Boxing Classic.
Saturday in Detroit, American Andre Dirrell got those two points when Armenian Arthur Abraham got disqualified for an intentional foul at 1:13 of round 11. Behind by prohibitive margins on all scorecards, Abraham landed a perfect right uppercut with Dirrell on the seat of his trunks after he slipped on a Cemex Tolteca ad on the canvas.
Abraham still leads the tournament with the three points he won in October. That’s the best that can be said after his second trip to the United States from Germany, where he resides. The rest comprises the derogatory things now being thought about him in America, a country that’s still pretty important to the prizefighting world.
In some sense both men were victims of Abraham’s concussive power Saturday. Had Abraham missed with his right hand he might have stopped Dirrell in the five minutes that remained. Dirrell was fading. Had Abraham caught Dirrell with a glancing, or anyhow less-effective, punch he would have lost a point that didn’t matter anyway – à la Marco Antonio Barrera against Juan Manuel Marquez. Instead he knocked Dirrell senseless and left referee Laurence Cole no choice but to disqualify him. His record is now blemished in more than one way.
That’s nothing compared to what Abraham’s right hand may have done to Dirrell, who was on the precipice of a career-defining victory.
Gone were so many of the bad habits that had ruined Dirrell’s last fight with Carl Froch. In Saturday’s first six rounds Dirrell damn near threw a shutout against an undefeated former world champion. He threw leveraged, scientific punches, looped correctly round Abraham’s customarily high guard. He slipped punches like he wanted to counter them, not just impress his boys back home. He did almost everything the professional way.
Almost everything. There was one glaringly amateurish trait that survived Dirrell’s training camp. It happened five or six times. It was his move to the right. It was all wrong. Hands at his waist, feet crossed, chin pointed skyward, Dirrell leaped away from Abraham’s left hook. It made Abraham look ridiculous and slow. But to learned eyes, it made Dirrell look ridiculous, too.
Guess what Dirrell was doing when he slipped in the first minute of the 11th round. Dropped in the 10th from a right cross, Dirrell began the 11th wisely intending to play Keep Away. But he unwisely switched from Andre Dirrell to “The Matrix” – the kid with too much athleticism for his own good – and began to bounce back and forth, hands low. He Matrixed rightward. His right foot landed on the ‘x’ in Cemex – the sticker wet and frictionless – and his legs splayed.That has to be the last thing Dirrell remembers from Saturday.
His hands on the canvas, Dirrell looked at Abraham’s onrushing right fist. The punch landed on the left side of his chin. Dirrell appeared disappointed, betrayed. Then the left side of his face contorted. Dirrell closed his left eye and brought his left glove to his forehead. He did not rub where he’d been struck. Rather he rubbed the place his jarred brain would have struck its protective shell. He rolled on his back. His legs began to shake involuntarily. It was ugly and frightening.
Abraham stood to the side, believing Dirrell was being theatrical – a belief he confirmed afterwards – and disbelieving he was about to lose by disqualification. What Abraham did was intentional. He deserved the result he got. But what Abraham did was not premeditated. That must be remembered.
Imagine you are Arthur Abraham. Like any man in the 31st minute of a championship prizefight, you’re more than a little buzzed from your opponent’s punches. You are desperate to sink your knuckles in the other man’s flesh. He has hit you repeatedly. He has taunted you. He has also been to the canvas minutes before. He is weakened and slowing. You have to render him unconscious or you lose.
For a half hour, he has evaded you with unorthodox moves. He drops his hands, changes levels and swoops away. You have cornered him. He struck the top of your chest with a jab after his head dropped oddly away. Now his hands are down. He is absolutely defenseless. That is a green light for you, not a red one. You throw the right hand you have cocked. You finish the defenseless man because that’s your job.
Moral judgments on Abraham need not apply here. Within the relative world of prizefighting, Abraham broke the rules and received a proper punishment. Had Dirrell been just as defenseless while standing, though – out on his feet, hands down – we’d be applauding Abraham as a great finisher for throwing that right hand.
None of this relativity helps Dirrell – a fighter about whom many things became more serious Saturday in Joe Louis Arena. If he is able to return to previous form, if subsequent tests come back negative, that is, expect the last vestiges of “The Matrix” to go away. Expect a far less playful guy in the ring. Expect a man who uses his athleticism to hurt other men. Expect some resentment at the end of those punches.
Expect that everything about Andre Dirrell just got a lot more serious.
Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com/bartbarry
Source: 15rounds.com
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