Froch-when did he step it up and get out of the "green" stage?

the closer the fight gets the more im leaning towards dirrel, lets not forget how much froch's last 2 fights might have taken out of him

 

:deal Spot on.
The only negative next Sunday morning will be the fact that i will be in the Trent Arena and not near my computer when Froch beats Dirrell.:good

 

I think Dirrell boxes his way to a decision here.

 

:good Two negatives - we won't get to watch the Taylor vs Abraham fight live unless Hennessy gets his finger out and shows it on the big screen -which I'm praying for!

 

Couldn't agree more.

I'd be absolutely shocked if Dirrell manages to beat Froch. Froch is one hard m/f to get the better of. He might LOOK bad sometimes but he's way better than he looks

 

He hasn't yet. He only beat a raw, weight-drained Pascal and a past-it former middleweight champ and he didn't look great against either. Now he's fighting a prospect. I guess the first time Froch will step it up is when he faces Kessler. Granted, that is quite a step-up.

 

I actually think the important thing to look at is Dirrell, not Froch.

Dirrell threw the kitchen sink at Oganov and couldn't budge him, even the stoppage was a dip in the knees of an Oganov that had taken a shellacking over the previous five rounds.

Dirrell throws his shots from his waist, even close, leaving his chin exposed, and doesn't seem to have a huge dig in his punches at all. he doesn't employ lateral movement all the time, and seems to be off balance and square on sometimes. I feel this is due to the fact that he relies on his physical gifts because his Grandfather doesn't posses the great boxing mind he thinks he has.

We have also seen Dirrell dropped heavily by a right hand against a man who is smaller than Froch and was merely someone for Dirrell to roll over. So I don't even think Dirrells (small) advantages in reach and height mean much here.

I expect Dirrell to look good early but his willingness to throw eye catching punches, added to the fact that he clearly wants to prove himself here, will see him in the Lions den too often. Due to past performances I don't think there's a strong indication he can hack it.

Another thing is Dirrell gassed against Oganov a couple of times. Okay he was throwing everything, but he will have to maintain a high workrate here to avoid a debacle like the Curtis Stevens fight (by the way if he tries to run its not like Froch is plodding, he will chase him down and be throwing punches Dirrell is not gonna' coast in this fight, even the haters know that) and I don't think he will fare much better against Taylor.

One more note is that Froch is now perceived as a slow starter but watch how he comes out against Pascal. If he charges Dirrell like that is Dirrell going to be able to resist a tear up? Even if he does try to resist how is he going to reach if/when Froch lands on him? I don't believe Dirrell is as sturdy as Pascal.

One things for certain it's gonna be a good fight, if Dirrell can win he must be good and I will become a fan. I jus think he's the least likely to win this tournament. Who does he have after Froch?

 

totally agree.

froch deserves his dues and he was lucky to get the taylor fight to begin with. he made the most of it but its being disrespectful to say that hes living on borrowed time. hes just making the most of his opportunities.

 

As far as I know, Abraham in Round II & then Ward in Round III.

 

Well, OGanov showed you CAN get close to Dirrell without much work.

Unlike Oganov, Abraham knows what to do when he gets there:hey:deal

 

You're tripping if you think shot to **** Robin Reid, who lost horribly to Jeff Lacy and who went life and death with Jesse Brinkley, was good competition. Before Pascal, there wasn't a single name on his resume that was any better than the guys Dirrell or Ward has faced.

Who knows if Taylor was a below par performance. Taylor was far and away the best fighter Froch has ever faced. Usually facing a better opponent makes you look worse.

I agree with the rest of what you say though, and it's nice to see that even a Froch fan can acknowledge that Dirrell has a chance here. Froch is deservedly the favorite, but there are so many x-factors in this fight, I could see it having a full range of outcomes, from blowout victories for each fighter, to a bloody war with a controversial outcome. The only outcome that's out of the question, IMO, is an early KO win for Dirrell.

 

Yeah Bernard Hopkins got 'out boxed' by that HBO hype job too....only he didn't knock him the **** out after 12 rounds. :-(

 

Brian Magee is the best win on Froch's record before he beat Pascal.
yes Magee does have a loss to Reid, however Magee was still pretty much prime against Froch while Reid certainly wasn't. Magee actually outboxed Reid in their fight anyway but his chin let him down and he was floored two many times to win the bout.

Magee was jobbed out of the European title when he fought Vitali Tsypko and at his best was fringe World title level. Ward may have fought a better fighter in Miranda than Magee, but Dirrel has not(Oganov is certainly not better anyway).

I had thought that Magee would get the better of Froch when they fought, Froch's low left hand and Magee's accurate southpaw jab had me believing that Brian would out jab and outclass the Nottingham fighter. But Froch showed he was for real that night and that's when I became a believer.

 

Great points on this thread man, I've seen alot of the same thing being an American fight fan. Good stuff. :thumbsup

The way I see it? Let them keep the double standards-nothing gets a pre-fight buzz going like biased fans on both sides going at it. Afterwards? There's two ways for things to go down after a fight, and that's for people to make excuses for you, or to make them for your opponent. Anyone can lose and have an excuse as to why- some legit, most bull****. When people have no choice but to start making excuses for your opponent, that's when you know you've arrived.

Froch's at that point now. He's there whether people want to minimize his wins or not, and even if fans think he's all smoke and mirrors, he's going to be pure truth serum in showing us how ready Andre Dirrell is for this tournament. I've always thought highly of Dirrell's potential, but even I can't be positive of his ability to swim in the deep waters yet because we haven't seen it yet. Froch's going to take him there, and how Andre handles it is going to be the difference between winning and losing. I can't wait to see how this one turns out.

 

I think it is a bit off to say the Froch Pascal fight was a total slugfest. The first half yes and was about even at that point but after that Froch utilised his jab and kept him at range to rack up the points.