Froch vs. Dirrell: Will Carl take Dirrell into deep waters?

By Harlan Davies: The WBC Super-middle champion Carl Froch (25 wins 20 kos) is set lock horns with the unbeaten Andre Dirrell (18 wins 13 kos) on the 17th October in Froch’s hometown of Nottingham. The pre-fight hype and verbal sparring between the two has already commenced and the outcome remains wide open opinion-wise. Their bout will be the opening round of Showtime’s Super-middle tournament and from initial appearances, their bout looks to be an engrossing clash of styles which will lay the foundations for their position in the tournament and ultimately, it may help define their careers.

Firstly, the unbeaten Carl Froch is coming off a TKO victory over the former undisputed middle-weight champion of Jermain Taylor back in April. An unbiased fan would clearly recognise that Froch for the first half of the fight looked lethargic and slightly overwhelmed by the occasion and Taylor appropriately out-boxed him for the first half of the fight knocking him down in the 3rd. However, as they moved later on into the fight it appeared as though Froch’s and Taylor’s stamina would play a vital role in the outcome. Taylor has been none to fade in the later rounds in his previous fights with Kelly Pavlik and Winky Wright and fate conspired again in this fight. Froch on the other hand seemed to progress and got stronger as the fight wore on, with him having enough gas left in the tank to not only knockdown Taylor but take him out. That fight proved Froch’s undeniable endurance, guts and will which cannot be trained or drilled into a fighter, these characteristics are invaluable.

Froch is a classic tough, come-forward pressure fighter who relies on his superb stamina and chin to outwork and demolish his opponents. He has undeniable power in both hands that managed to take out Taylor in the 12th round and grind down Pascal. In both fights with Taylor and Pascal he did demonstrate a leaky defence which made him susceptible to combinations and counters but again Froch’s punch resistance allowed him to walk through them. Also, Froch opts to dangle his left hand by his side from the orthodox stance which can be another flaw in his arsenal defensively.

Andre Dirrell is an undoubtedly talented, young fighter with a fantastic amateur pedigree and a bronze medal from the Olympics. As a result of his world-class amateur experience he is supremely gifted technically and knows how to box rings around opponents with his switch hitting style. He is blessed with lightning hand and foot speed which allows him to be able to dance around his foes and outbox them. With his speed comes good power which has allowed him to remain undefeated but he is yet to fight an opponent that could threaten to put a dent in his record. His biggest win came against the knockout specialist Victor Oganov by TKO in the 5th round. In that fight Dirrell was able to use his superior skills to fight from the outside and circle the flat-footed, shorter and slower Oganov who was finding it difficult to connect. However, in that fight Dirrell physically became fatigued by the 5th round after throwing bundles of swift, flashy combinations and this may prove a vital factor in the fight with Froch. Dirrell’s inexperience will be his biggest weakness coming into this fight. He has never gone 12 rounds before and he has never fought someone that can bring as much pressure and tenacity as Froch. In the fight with Oganov, Dirrell was occasionly clipped by a left-hook when Andre dropped his hands once he was tired so Direll is vulnerable at moments.

I can see Froch being outboxed for the first half of the fight similar to his battle with Taylor but as they move into the second half of the fight Froch will gain momentum and his superb stamina will start to come into play. I predict that Dirrells inexperience will shine through and he will start to fade in the latter rounds before Froch gets to him in the championship rounds. Dirrell as the ability to out-box the slower Froch but he has never fought anyone at top level and this could possibly prove his downfall, Froch will have to eat a lot of punches on the way though.

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