Andre Dirrell: Too little too late?

Andre Dirrell Gets Robbed By Carl Froch In Nottingham; Arthur Abraham Gives Jermain Taylor Another Knockout Loss In Germany


Written by Tim Starks | 17 October 2009


I hate to make the easy Robin Hood joke, but in the opening round of the Showtime Super Six tourney, the judges stole from the rich and gave it to the poor when Andre Dirrell -- who won 10 rounds on my scorecard -- when they gave the fight to Carl Froch by split decision, who was ineffective all night save for some rough tactics. And I know there are some people who thought this was a close fight, most obviously Showtime's Al Bernstein, but I still saw this as an easy win for Dirrell that Froch didn't deserve.
In the other super middleweight tourney fight Saturday, in Germany, Arthur Abraham delivered to Jermain Taylor his second consecutive 12th round stoppage, a nasty KO that showed why Abraham is one of the tournament's favorites and why Taylor was thought by many not to be tournament-worthy. That puts Abraham in the lead in the tournament so far, with 3 points; Froch with 2; and Dirrell and Taylor each with 0.

CARL FROCH - ANDRE DIRRELL

I just didn't see Froch land much of note. He had a rough time even coming close to landing anything of note on Dirrell -- maybe just that one clean punch in the 8th? I know there are judges who favor aggression over someone backing up and moving in circles, but Dirrell's clean lands were really obvious. And he landed more, I bet punch stats would show. Lots more, especially with his left. The only other meaningful shots Froch landed were mostly illegal -- many of them in clinches on the back of Dirrell's head, because some of the punches on the back of the head he landed while Dirrell ducked down were not Froch's fault.

Checking out the responses around the Twitter and what not, most people had Direll winning about nine rounds. I guess a couple of rounds were closer than I realized, I'd say some of the middle rounds where Froch was creating a lot of awkward action. Early on, Dirrell was keeping the fight in the middle of the ring, scoring at will. After Froch body slammed Dirrell in the 5th, Dirrell lost his head a little, trading too much with Froch and allowing himself to be distracted by the referee. The only round I gave Froch was the 7th. In the 10th, Dirrell was deducted a point for holding, which, yeah, Dirrell was holding a lot, but I'm not sure he was the one who should have suffered a point deduction first, given Froch's roughhousing. I scored that one 9-9 because that was the round where Dirrell really rattled Froch with a pair of big lefts.

In between the 11th and 12th, Dirrell's trainer/grandfather told him he needed a KO because he wasn't going to get a decision, and as it happened, he was right. One judge had it 114-113 for Dirrell, the other two had it 115-112 for Froch. I know I've said before that if plenty of people thought the fight was close other than the judges, "robbery" is too strong a word. But really, I think the vast majority of people, just in my informal survey, thought Dirrell won easily. The ringside press scored it for Froch. Maybe they saw something live we didn't see on TV, but I'm going to say they were just fooled by the commotion and the crowd.

Even though he comes out of the fight with a loss, I think Dirrell proved he was for real Saturday. His stamina held up through 12 rounds, and his chin did too, not that it got tested all that often. He lost his composure a little in the middle rounds, but he came back like a man in the 11th and 12th when he needed to. I also thought it was a pretty good performance from the standpoint of excitement; yes, he was playing defense, but he was offensive-minded throughout, and he pushed for the knockout the one chance he got.

Queensbury-rules.com

 

Super Six Tournament Ruined: Carl Froch Wins Robbery Over Andre Dirrell


by Brent Brookhouse on Oct 18, 2009 1:54 AM EDT in MMA News

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As much as I've defended boxing on this site, I will not lie when absolute garbage happens in the sport. Anyone who enjoys boxing in any way has been looking forward to the start of the Super Six World Boxing Classic featuring six of the best super middleweights in the world competing in a round robin tournament.

In the first fight of the tournament Arthur Abraham knocked out Jermain Taylor with a stunning right hand in the 12th round. While Taylor started out hot, winning several rounds on my card, he eventually faded before being dropped with a picture perfect right hand. It was a solid, competitive start to the most interesting event to hit the sport in many years.

Then the second fight happened...

Andre Dirrell took it to Carl Froch from bell to bell, winning 10 rounds on my scorecard and by a score of 117-110 on Scott Christ's card. Froch looked completely outclassed for most of the fight, resorting at various points to throwing Andre to the ground, holding and hitting, hitting after the bell, hitting on the break, headlocks, and elbows. However, despite all of this referee Hector Afu saw fit to never deduct a point from Froch but instead to deduct from Dirrell for excessive holding. After the final bell the fact that the fight was being contested in Froch's home country of England sat in the back of my mind as heavy as Gary Shaw after a trip to the all-you-can-eat buffet. The official scores were read and it was Froch whose hand was raised after a split decision.

Scott Christ expands at BadLeftHook:

It was an odd fight to watch or describe, as it was dirtier than all hell, with a referee that could not keep control of the fight. I truly, truly feel Dirrell won the fight, and rather dominantly so. Froch rambled after the fight about Dirrell not being a warrior and standing and fight, but Dirrell landed much better shots than he did, and frankly made him look like a second-rate fighter. Dirrell showed his entire range of skills, and though Andre was not clear of any wrongdoing tonight (he held a lot, and sometimes blatantly so), he was far less dirty out there than Froch.

This sucked most of the enjoyment out of the tournament for me. This was supposed to represent something bigger. This was the best fighting the best in an effort to help bring legitimacy to boxing. What we got though was just more of the same old junk in a fancy looking package.

I still love boxing. But it's getting hard to defend at this point.


bloodyelbow.com

 

Dirrell is a very talented fighter, I believe most skilled in the division, he needs a bit of discipline in my opinion. Why Dirrell wasn't given the nod;

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fztqCbOUiTY[/ame]

 

That video is a farce. It claims to show why Dirrell blew it, yet doesnt show why Froch won it.

 

The problem is when you look at the fight as a whole, I still think Dirrell fought a bad fight, but most give him the win. But when you look at it round per round (as it is judge in the first place), a lot of rounds are not that easy to call and you must know that when theres a close round it will probably go to the hometown fighter (the champion too).

 

If Dirrell blew it, as I think he did, why would Froch need to win it?

Dirrell admitted he should have done more, his team said that, he changed his style for the Abraham fight because of it - Seriously, the proof Dirrell blew the fight is right there.

The funny thing is, there's a little group of people who insist Dirrell won, yet even he doesn't cry robbery. He thinks he won, fair enough, but those crying "bull****" at every chance need to accept that even Dirrell himself doesn't think that was the case. From what I've read, neither do his team. The only person who has cried about it, was Gary Shaw, a fat ****ing disgrace of a man.



This is what Froch said about Dirrell before the fight: "But if he wants to be world champion then he'd better come prepared to fight like one. He's stunk the place out a few times running away rather that fighting like a man, there is no honour in that."

He didn't fight like a man and it cost him.

 

Because of Froch's dirty fighting, there are alot of iffy rounds if you dont remember to score by the standard criteria.

If you score by the criteria

clean punching
effective aggression
defense
ring generalship

Then those rounds clearly become Dirrell rounds. Dirrell landed the better punches, Froch aggression was not effective, Dirrell obviously had the better defense, and Ring generalship definition is as follows

“ring generalship” comprised "such points as the ability to quickly grasp and take advantage of every opportunity offered, the capacity to cope with all kinds of situations which may arise; to foresee and neutralize an opponent’s method of attack; to force an opponent to adopt a style of boxing at which he is not particularly skillful."
Retrieved from "

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Once again Dirrell wins this too. Becuase Froch is terrible fighting coming forward, his attacks were nuetralized, and Dirrell more then a few times made Froch pay for his mistakes in the ring.

 

By the way, those two articles were bull****. Queensbury-Rules and an MMA site? Please. I asked for someone who was at the arena.

 

What this guy said. You can't become a world champion away from home fighting like a coward. He didn't deserve to be world champion in such fashion. Dirrell is a waste of talent.

 

That statement in no way supports the other. Dirrell blowing it has nothing to do with Froch actually landing more punches then Dirrell, which is what matters in boxing.

I believe he could have done more. As in not getting flustered in the mid rounds by Froch's tactics and start putting the hurt on him earlier like he did in the championship rounds.

This however by know means means I believe he lost or his team believe he lost the fight. The capability to improve has nothing to do with whether he actually won the fight. Which he did. If you believe otherwise by all means post a credible scorecard.

Actually the vast majority of the boxing public believe Dirrell won. In the October 09 issue of Ring Magazine the main article about the fight says clearly that the rules were bended to award Froch the victory in a fight Dirrell should have won.

There are a little group of cowardly folks who say Froch edged it, or Dirrell didnt do enough, but those peoples as stated earlier are cowards who wont produce a scorecard to back up their logic.

Actually he has said before he was robbed. He hasnt harped on it however because he's not like a Carl Froch who'll cry and make excuses until the cows come home because he loses. He got on with it and improved himself for the next fight. A sign of a true fighter.

 

I see what you're saying, thus why I'm not surprised that there was a hometown decision, they happen plenty. That doesn't make it any less of a travesty.

 

And that makes you a moron just like he is. Froch getting outlanded, outboxed, and hurt and outclassed in the championship rounds against a prospect who never been 12 rounds before, clearly shows that he wasnt deserving of the title champion.

 

The MMA site was backed up by a contributer from Badlefthook. A boxing site.

BadLefthook even goes on to post the scorecards, with the Italian judge laughably giving round 11 and 12 to Froch. Now those are only 2 rounds you'd have to watch, you wanna debate those with me?

http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/10/21/1093871/the-froch-dirrell-scorecards-the



As for being at the fight. That means nothing. It is actually detrimental. Because you only have one angle. You more then likely can be influenced by the crowd and the atmosphere.


Watching the fight at home on the tv where you arent swayed by outside distractions is far more likely to produce a better scorecard.


Alot of this can explain unprofessional European judging that goes on alot. Got swayed by the English crowd screaming every time Froch swung and missed like an infantile ******.

 

Example of Dirrell fighting like a "coward"

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFk6uyRSKdk&playnext=1&list=PL960EAC7257203476[/ame]

7:50 of the video

Al Bernstein

"Andre Dirrell hadnt fought a fight in his career where he's doing what he's doing right now, which is box but not run. He is doing his best to fight exactly the right kind of fight"


Antonio Tarver

"It seems as if he's growing up right before our eyes. I commend him on his fighting style right now"



Now this is during the 5th round, where Dirrell is schooling Froch so completely landing and not getting hit, that Froch resorts to body slamming Dirrell, rabbit punching and anything he can to win.


Now consider what Tarver a former world light heavyweight champion and Bernstein a well respected announcer, and then contrast it with some of the true cowards on this forum, and you quickly find any boxing analysis they perform laughable.