I grew up in the AM'S WITH Dirrell , his brother, Andre Berto, Chad Dawson, and some others. The two Andre's were THE rockstar's of our class. Chad turned pro way earlier than everyone else or he would have been celebrated just as much. Those three had so much natural talent and god given ability and athletically were just on a whole other level compared to everyome else. In retrospect, I think that capped their potential way lower than it should have been because they were just so much more gifted than everyone else. Mental strength, resilience, will power, drive, and motivation are just as important to a fighters make up in the long haul compared to all those physical gifts, but its because that talent and those gifts that hampered them in those intangible areas. It really is a shame. I remember EVERYONE thought most of those guys were destined to become long reigning champs and p4p fighters. How wrong we were.
Sullivan Barrera -- he was also a force in the AM's on the Cuban team too, a lot of us tbought he too would become something special.
Anything on the horizon for Anthony? Between the two bros, Andre was definitely more talented. But Anthony has the toughness (Physical and mental) and mean streak needed to move on.
Anthony called the Caleb Plant fight the other night on FS1. I think he was trying to fight the winner.
Degale put the final nail in the Dirrell saga: Andre HAD to win that one to stay relevant, and he didn't. I remember him gifting the fight to Froch when just a few more thrown punches would have given him the title. Even his uncle was imploring him to fight more in the corner, but Andre liked his comfort zone. He then pulled out rather than fighting Ward, even though it was agreed since the start.
Talented fighter albeit always been overrated who was born with the all too common WMS (Weak Mandible Syndrome) and his lack of confidence in his mandibular fortitude caused him to fight like a gazelle on many occasions, hence the moniker Andre ''The Petrified Gazelle'' Dirrell.
The Redcoats stole that win from Dirrell. He beat Froch from pillar to post and the Brits gifted Froch the win. No surprise that the only American ref gave the proper score and the German and Italian scored it for Froch. Glad Ward set Froch straight and beat him the hell up.
Froch claimed Andre looked terrified: maybe he was right. It was a close fight all the way, with Andre doing the bare minimum in every rd. The same thing he did in the Stevens fight. Except this time, it was for a title in front of millions. Dirrell chose boxing as a profession but he forgot it was a contact sport. It wasn't the chin: he simply didn't want getting hit. Period. When your own uncle implores you to fight a little more, that should tell you something about his demeanor.