Andre Dirrell - The forgotten man of the S6

As the tournament comes to an end and we are now one fight away from seeing the new S6 king, I think it's time to think back about one of the true stars of the tournament.

I've been watching a bit of Dirrell today in all the fights I could get of him. I've got to say, based on judging criteria, this kid has it all. Like most people I got into boxing as a spectator loving the hype, drama and action. As my appreciation for the history and science grew, so did the way I viewed fights. Originally I put far too much emphasis on ring generalship (who would I rather be in that ring, who looks the boss etc) and I didn't really appreciate Dirrell's style too much and had him a loser in the Froch fight. However, the emphasis in scoring is on clean effective punches. There aren't many in the division who can land a punch as clean or effective as Dirrell can.

A lot of his prospect fights are good to see because for the most part he outcassed his opponent with dazzling speed and accuracy (one of them was a real stinker, can't recall the opponent off top of my head though.). However, twice he had to show real heart. He got dropped hard by Rocha and got buzzed by Hanshaw. On both occassions he came back to defeat his opponent. A brilliant display was against Oganov and at this point, it's no wonder his handlers didn't mind throwing him to the wolves a bit.

Of course Dirrell has fought two real quality opponents in his career: Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham. Both undefeated world titlists ranked right at the top of the divison and both coming off crushing knockout victories over Jermain Taylor.

Here are my most recent scorecards of these two fights:

Froch v Dirrell

1: 9-10 good round for andre, standing his ground in the centre and outjabbing Froch for the majority of the round.
2: 9-10 another tactical round much closer but the clean shots came from andre with a great double counter left hook.
3: 9-10 tough round to score, froch's agression wasn't effective but Dirrell's defence was overly negative. Froch was clearly the ring general but the emphasis is on clean effective punches and it's undoubted who landed the more of those.
4: 10-9 much better by froch who starts to actually defend with something other than his chin.
5: 9-10 dirrell goes back to countering froch's shots with greater effectiveness thus landing better punches throughout the fight.
6: 10-9 much better round for Froch, setting his attack up behind the jab and cutting the ring off much better.
7: 10-9 Froch closes the distance with some good inside work completely taking dirrell out of his comfort zone and probably just edges the shot count with a clear advantage from being the ring general.
8: 10-9 close round, both land big shots on each other but the inside work is much more even. Froch gets the nod for ring generalship.
9: 9-10 much better round byr dirrell who barely takes a punch in the first 2 minutes whilst landing some solid hard counter shots.
10: 9-9 dirrell outboxes and outpunches froch with crisp accurate shots, more willing to trade now. loses a point for clinching or headbutting, not sure.
11: 9-10 andre again lans really good clean shots and looks a class above froch at this point.
12: 9-10 closer round, but again the better work is coming from andre.

112-115

Abraham vs Dirrell

1: 9-10 dominant round by dirrell with a great mix of body and head shots penetrating AA's solid tight guard.
2: 9-10 AA tries to open up a bit more but gets even more punishment as a reward as Dirrell again dominates behind a solid jab and good combo punches.
3: 9-10 AA gets a couple of shots in but for the most part is again controlled by andre. AA tries opening up strong at the end of the round but dirrell slips pretty much every punch.
4: 8-10 very good round for andre, winning the round comfortably plus scores a knockdown.
5: 9-10 another solid round for dirrell who keeps penetrating the guard of AA by mixing his shots up.
6: 9-10 rinse and repeat, andre peppering AA with a wide range of punches.
7: 9-10 closer round as AA starts to find some success but the vast majority of good work is coming by way of andre and AA looks hapless at times. andre also denied a clear kd at the bell.
8: 10-9 the close round this time goes to AA who is finally able to press andre into a corner and open up on him.
9: 9-10 quite a one sided round despite a valiant finish by AA as andre starts to really punish him now.
10: 10-9 better round for AA who is closing the distance better in this round and denied a seemingly clear kd.
11: andre comfortably winning the round when AA cold cocks him getting himself DQ's as a result.

91-98 at the time of the DQ.


As you can see, against undefeated world title holders I have andre winning 16 of a possible 22 rounds. His speed and accuracy is brilliant, his defence is a bit overt but still very good and he shows a knack of trying to finish an opponent when he thinks they're hurt.

The thing which impresses me most, however, is the man's heart. whenever he's come up against adversity, he's conquered it: dropped early in his career, comes back to totally outbox his opponent; hurt badly by a shot, comes back to destroy his opponent; in a evenly matched fight with Carl Froch approaching the championship rounds, he turns up the heat and looks a class above; coming off a contentious defeat against the current p4p hardest puncher in boxing, he produces a magnificent offensive display.

If Andre can come back to boxing, there isn't a man at 168 I'd favour to beat him. Maybe Ward can match his variety and maybe bute can match his accuracy, but I don't think anyone is as good an all round package in that division.

The winner of the S6 will be the king, but if Andre comes back, they'll just be babysitting the crown!

 

dirrell has already displayed much better heart than zab did.


saying that, zab fought a lot of quality opponents in his career so it remains to be seen if andre would be as successful at a higher level than he's fought at (although it doesn't get much higher: ward/ b-hop maybe?)

 

in what way does my sense not make?

 

cowardice? did you see the way he turned it up after round 9?