Personally I don't think Dirrell has any confidence in his chin which was the reason for the ridiculous amount of holding, turning his back and ducking below the waist he displayed in the Froch fight, if this is true then I can see Arthur scoring the KO as he is both faster and more powerful than Froch and should be able to land cleanly on him at least a couple of times in the fight. What was frustrating about Dirrell in the Froch fight was that when he let his hands go he looked very good and he clearly could have beaten Froch if he had kept it up, but he just didn't do enough in the champs backyard and held way too much to warrant the decision.
Dirrell is not very intelligent in a ring. I don't buy that part of your post. For the rest, I'm not sure on this one. What Dirrell will show on the ring that night? Will he fight more because of the ending of his first fight? Will he hit and run? I don't know. Dirrell is tall. When he goes to the body, Abraham will counter at his head. Who will be bating the other to the punch in that situation?
My gut feeling somehow tells me that AA will have a tougher time with Dirrel than he had with Taylor. AA hates speedy and awkward movers as could be seen against Gainer and Ayala. Dirrel's style for sure isnt tailor made for AA
I am thinking this as well -- that Abraham will end up having a tougher time with Dirrell than he did with Taylor.
Dirrell has the speed and boxing skills, but: Abraham is like a brick wall that punches back. He is so confident in the ring, knwoing how hard it is for opponents to penetrate his guard. If Taylor's jab found nothing but gloves all night, I doubt anyone can use a jab effectively against Abraham. Dirrell will win the early rounds on activity but he might also discover that he hits a wall of gloves and forearms most of the time. Abraham's long forearms and short upper body allow him to cover head and body at the same time. If Dirrell comes closer, Abraham will erupt with these sudden outbreaks of violence. Given how Dirrell fought nervous against the much slower Froch who telegraphs his punches, I doubt that he will have the coolness to deal with Abraham's explosions. Maybe Dirrell has an iron chin and maybe he takes a quantum leap after the Froch fight in mental strength and ring intelligence. I am leaning towards AA, because I think we haven't seen the best of him yet and because he known how to maximize his advantages.
It's interesting that so few people are picking Dirrell here. I thought there would be more people picking him. I personally chose the "Unsure" option in the poll, though I lean towards Abraham. I think a lot of it depends on which Dirrell shows up. If he can fight as he did in the last few rounds of the Froch fight, then he may have a better shot than if he fights as he did early in that bout.
I agree with this. Dirrell's size, talent and skills definitely has the potential to give Abraham major trouble.
There were moments in the Froch fight when Dirrell looked really good, but over all he is clumsy, he's sloppy, he makes a lot of mistakes, and 12 rounds is a long, long time when you're trying to stay away from AA's right hand.