I didn't pay for the fight, so I waited for the fight to be uploaded to somewhere. You can find the fight on [url]MrBoxingUK2's YouTube channel[/url] (watch it now, it may be removed in the near future!). My scorecard Carl "The Cobra" Froch 9/9/10/10/9/10/10/10/10/9/9/10 = 115 Andre "The Matrix" Dirrell 10/10/9/9/10/9/9/9/9/9/10/9 = 112 I watched the fight and that's how my scorecard came out. I did not favour one fighter over the other. I am from the UK, but this is a boxing forum and I want a legitimate discussion on this fight. Aggressor: I feel that Froch forced the fight for the most part. Dirrell forced the clinching/holding and complained about Froch hitting him on the back of the head and hitting and holding. There's a solution to that - don't clinch! Skills: Dirrell doesn't need to clinch and I can see why his alias is "The Matrix". His head movement was phenomenal at times, making Froch miss 2 and 3 successive punches in a row. Speed: Dirrell's hand speed was on another level compared to Froch's, but Froch did find a way to land the shots that had more authority (although Dirrell did land a handful throughout the fight). Strategy: Dirrell seemed to want to do anything to miss Froch's heavy hands, and that included going to the canvas. Froch hit behind the head and hit Dirrell as they clinched, but I can honestly say if Dirrell didn't clinch, it would not have happened and he would not have lost the point. Conclusion: Overall, I feel that the fight could have been so much better. I am not being biased, but Dirrell made it boring for me (until rounds 10 and 11 in which he outslugged the slugger and was excellent at it! It was unfortunate that he got deducted a point, though.) The fight was very close in my opinion and the only reason I edged it to Froch on a couple of rounds was due to Dirrell's tactics of going down to the ground and complaining about rabbit punches and other things that he actually enticed himself. That's just my personal take on things. I am not looking for a flame war, it's just what I saw.
Very adult post and analysis, kwyjibo. Good job. I am not certain I agree on the cards, but other than this... Not sure if I really want to watch it again though.
You dont score pure aggression. Even if Froch was the aggressor it means nothing if you cant hit the fighter. Froch's aggression largely caused him to swing widely and miss and get caught with precision counters and a jab he had no answer for. Please reanalyze the way you score fights. And yet you still scored Froch for his aggression, even though Dirrell made him miss. I think you are forgetting that you are also supposed to score defense aswell. Dirrell had Froch nearly KO'd in the 10th and was beating him around the ring in 11th and 12th, yet he landed more authoritative punches. Wow. So you didnt score the fight on Dirrells clean punches, effective countering and rocking Froch multiple times, but instead on the fact that he fell because Froch was rabbit punching him, and gave the rounds to Froch for doing illegal moves. Sorry, but your ability to judge a boxing match. Sucks.
I think you have talked so much about this fight that you have gotten a warped perception of the fight. It's not really your fault, but it happens very easily. Furthermore, people often see what they want to see - you seem to be one of those. Maybe you got influenced by the commentators. That doesn't mean Dirrell did it all the time. He got caught, especially when he started to go down in tempo. I must have seen a different fight. Dirrell won those, but not by a whole lot. He impressed me, because I thought he had gassed, and when trapped and getting caught, he showed a fighters heart for the first time in the fight. You seem too biased to talk about ability to judge a boxing match.
Watched it three times. First time, had Dirrell 115-112 Second time, Froch 114-113 Third time, Dirrell 114-113.
All you can do is just laugh. That's absolutely all you can do. What's more, he managed to score it for Froch - a man who landed almost no punches of note - based on highlights. It's astonishing.
Close fights, combined with insomnia, also the fact that I ****ing hate Froch and love when he looks like a horses ass. I'm glad he's kept his title, so Kessler sweeps it.