Ok, but he is still developing. I though he was terrible against Froch and no-way deserved the decision, but I thought he fought the perfect fight against Abraham up until the final couple of rounds when he did start to panic a little as Abraham got closer and more effective. My opinion of him has gone up a little since the Abraham fight. Talk of P4P status at this point is a little premature though.
Jack. I like a troll of Dirrell's fans as much as anyone, but I was actually very impressed by the nine rounds he produced against Abraham. I expected Abraham to be able to apply a lot more pressure a lot earlier and thought that Dirrell fought very smartly, getting the balance exactly right between exchanging and evading. A lot of your points are spot on, but Dirrell is still very inexperienced at professional level. He's been chucked in at the deep end in the Super Six. The likelihood seems to be that he will finish with two defeats in three fights and not qualify, so time will tell whether entering was a good decision career-wise. His performance against Froch was a shocker, yet he still was in a very close fight on hostile ground with the SMW with the best current resume. I wondered whether he would learn the right lessons from the loss and, to his credit, he did appear to have against Abraham. He still only has 20 pro fights and deserves to be given some benefit of doubt as a work in progress.
He's not fighting Kessler. Especially if you expect Ward to beat Dirrell than there's no chance of him fighting Kessler!
perhaps you're right and I overexaggerated. Maybe I jumped the gun on calling you biased. Maybe it was that "Carl Froch is an ATG SMW" thread I just read that really made me shake my head. But, the only real flaw I see in Dirrell's boxing is that he has his chin high and untucked during some of his evasive maneuvers that make some punches landed on him look overly effective. But, he's pretty accurate with his punches, very elusive, uses angles well and can switch to southpaw seamlessly without being caught in between. What technical flaw is it that you see?
The Abraham fight was funny because he looked in control any time he was throwing punches, yet he just wasn't doing enough. I maintain that in the rounds where Abraham looked like he wanted to hurt Dirrell, he won them. I don't think Dirrell did anything to really stop Abraham, either. But you can look at that two ways. You can either say Abraham's skills were negated by Dirrell or he just didn't turn up. Because of how simple it looked for Abraham to win, I chose to think he was being lethargic and didn't turn up. In a rematch, Id expect Abraham to be much more agressive and fight a better fight, and mostly importantly, win. That's hypothetical though. That said, the fight went as I expected for the first 7/8 rounds. Abraham's surge was too late but Dirrell had every style advantage and still didn't look great.
Ah, that's a shame. I would have liked to see that fight. I pretty much agree with your long post, bar a few things. Good post, mate.
You are rapidly developing into one of the worst posters on this forum, and that's really saying something (not least since you seem to be relatively intelligent and articulate).
You actually have an avatar of a magzine covers so... Dirrell is an incredibly talented boxer who made Froch look like a lumbering neanderthal and all but ruined Abraham before 'King' Arthur's frustration brought about the DQ. To my mind he's the most talented fighter in the Super Six without a doubt and hopefully has a bright future ahead.
Yeah, I agree. That was the frustrating thing because I felt any time Abraham really tried, he had success. He had the stamina to do much more, Dirrell wasn't forcing anything and yet he chose to wait. It's baffling. There is a chance Abraham has become another boxer who has fallen in love with his power. He has good skills and needs to start using them again, because he is beatable if he relies on his power, which he is doing. I think, and hope, this loss will force changes. Some losses can be a good thing, so let's hope this one is.
I don't think Dirrell is great or ever will be great for that matter. I think he can improve though. I thought the fight was close and was turning in Abraham's way when it prematurely ended. I still had Dirrell a couple of points in front at that point but I was sensing Abraham was going for the finish, he still had almost 2 rounds to do it and Dirrell was fading badly. I also had Abraham knocking Dirrell down twice in the fight. Apart from the obvious one, I had him KD Dirrell earlier in the fight (forget the round, 4 I think). He caught Dirrell and then grabbed hold of him, Dirrell fell but the ref called it no KD. But I also had Dirrell knocking Abraham down at the end of the same round Abraham KD'd him, with only the ropes keeping Abraham up, but the ref didn't call it either. Good fight. Shame about the finish.
I agree with most of your comments. Dirrell's skills is basically his quickness - he's fast enough to get away. He does a lot wrong technically, but with that speed, he'll be difficult target to pinpoint. I don;t agree with the AA fight analysis. The reason AA was not fighting more aggressively is because he was getting countered! Dirrell was probably the quickest guy AA faced, and it showed. Remember, after having a good 3rd round, AA went on attack in the 4th...but when he opened, he soon found himself on the canvas. AA was careful because he was not dealing well with Dirrell's speed and was wary of his counters. Even those few punches AA landed, their steam was taken away by Dirrell leaning away... I have no question if Dirrell was a split second slower in pulling his head back in the knockdown, he would be out.
I chose that cover because of who is on it. Maybe I missed your joke, I don't know. The most talented fighter there? No chance. People are blinded by his above average foot and hand speed, but he doesn't do a lot right technically. He is open to counters after the jab, he backs up carelessly when facing punches, he turns to the side blinding himself from punches, his combinations leave him wide open, his guard is poor...you can go on and on. He just isn't that good technically. Him being overrated annoys me just as much as Judah - Being fast and flashy does NOT mean you are a good boxer!
