What Chance Do Americans Dirrell, Taylor And Ward Have In The Super Six?
August 19th, 2009
By Tom Stokes: Talk of the fighter least likely to succeed in the super middleweight super six tournament usually ends up with Carl Froch (25-0, 19 KO’s), the WBC champion who’s considered slow and less skilled than his competition, but what about Dirrell, Ward and Taylor, in my opinion these guys are the weakest link in the competition, and come October these three fighters and the American fans, are going to be in for a shock when they find out what they’ve got themselves into.
Jermain Taylor (28-3, 17 KO’s), I feel this is it for Taylor now, the final nail in the coffin of his career, he’s going up against former middleweight champ Arthur Abraham (30-0, 24 KO’s), after Taylor got stopped by Froch I doubt he’s got much left in the tank now and Abraham is knock out fighter, a brawler and Taylor doesn’t cope well against brawlers (Pavlik and Froch), and if he’s knocked out by Abraham his chances in the tournament are over, Taylor’s got a long and hard route if he wants to get back on top, but I can’t see him doing it, my guess is he’s in boxing now for the money.
Andre Ward (19-0, 12 KO’s), out of the three Ward is the most promising, although I can’t see him causing a stir in the tournament, he had a big win over Edison Miranda (32-4, 28 KO’s) and yes he’s undefeated, but he does lack experience and having Mikkel Kessler (41-1, 31 KO’s) as his first opponent is going to be tough, a match up I don’t see him winning, but out of the three I see him making his way into the semi finals but no further.
The only reason I think these three fighters are in the tournament, is for the reason that Showtime needs an America audience to make the tournament a financial success and realistically that can’t be done without hyped up American boxers. For instance Sakio Bika (28-3, 19 KO’s) I believe would have been a better candidate to replace one the three American’s, he’s tough durable and exciting to watch, but at the end of the day he doesn’t have the financial value or “hype” to his name that the three American fighters have. I only see one of these three getting to the semi finals and that’s Ward, apart from that I don’t see Taylor or Dirrell getting past the first 3 fights without struggling, and I don’t see an American winning this tournament, not this time anyway.
Tags: Abraham vs. Taylor, Abraham-Taylor, Dirrell vs. Froch, Dirrell-Froch, Kessler vs. Ward, Kessler-Ward ,Andre Dirrell, Andre Ward, Jermain Taylor26 Responses to “What Chance Do Americans Dirrell, Taylor And Ward Have In The Super Six?”
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Oh! I 4got! To all the HATERS out there, why dont one of u get in the ring with any of the fighters? You wont have a chance to even withstand one punch “HI HATERS” We see u! Ha,HA,HA,HA!!!!
Dirrell and Ward will be the last 2 standing then u know what that means? Its on & poppin!!! Thats gonna be the best match up even though they r friends they have to T C B…….
I guess Ward and Dirrell will be in the final.
I think both Andres, from what little I’ve seen in clips (I’m English), are impressive fighters. I can particularly see the excitement about Ward. However, as many have noted, they are going to be fighting at a higher level, and I think it’s unlikely that they will be able to have their way so much against the other 4 in this competition. Dirrell, though very fast and so forth, hasn’t always looked great against mediocre opposition, and I think Froch will get to him at some point; whether he will be able to land enough strong shots is another matter. The prospect of Froch getting KO’d can’t be ruled out of course, but I think it is very unlikely.
It’s gonna be either Dirrell or Froch
i’m american, but i do agree our fighters are not quite what we think they are…they have only an outside chance.
Dirrell’s untested.. but I think he needs high level opposition to bring the best outta him..I do like Carl Froch.. but he’s too slow and he won’t be able to find Dirrell, and he’s gonna get pot shotted all night..Dirrell has that It among all of the other fighters.. you can see it..this fight could be like the clinton woods Roy Jones fight.. and we all know what happend there
ward is gonna win the tournment…..ya dig????
I think that just like this article, this tournament was set up to try and make American fighters look bad. Taylor is a little shell shocked from his 03 losses, and the two Andre’s are untested. And although the odds are against them, I think that the 03 Americans are going to shock the boxing world in this tournament, and one will actually win it.
it seems michael has already seen the fights and already knows what will happen and the rounds where it will happen, styles make fights u clown lets just see what happens without making moronic statements, ward beating kessler please sit down and keep it shut.
i agree with you josh…
Derrill will KO Froch in 4th round…
look at how they box…
not at their records or who they’ve faught…
Enjoyed the article. There is a lot of hype, that soon seem to turn into being ‘wise after the event’ especially in the USA. I think it is all the mis-placed confidence that is inherent in this par of the world. Froch while not being the most skilled a boxer, can take a punch, has the heart of a lion and is relentless. My guess is that facing a hostile crowd, and a fighter of these qualities, that most Americans would crumble. Although, credit to Dirrell for travelling, because most American’s do not travel, yet ironically criticise everyone else for doing the same…
Interesting point regarding Lucien Bute, he should have been in there. The American contingent have a lot to prove. Taylor Ko’d twice and the two olympians relatively untested. Kessler looks the cream of the crop, although both Abrahams and (especially) Froch are teak tough and as determined as you like. Dirrell will have his hands full against Froch and would do better to concentrate on his training camp rather than running his mouth against a man who will be in his face for the whole 12 rounds. Froch could stop Dirrell at any point in the fight, ask Taylor, Can Dirrell keep him of for 12 rounds-time will tell? King Arthur could be the dark horse, he hasn’t fought abroad against the very top flight but he is tough, hard hitting and defensively solid. Kessler can be outboxed, though like Froch there is no taking him out. Maybe Ward, possibly the most skilled and versitle of the bunch is the best outside bet.
Andre Dirrell is going to give Carl Froch the beating of his life..he can switch from southpaw to orthadox easily and is by far too fast too smart and too strong for froch…he’s going to box circles around him all night.. the fight could be stopped before the 7th round..I don’t know how people don’t see this coming
a lot of people are talking about kessler but really what has he done after being beaten by calzaghe???
The only things about this tournament that I know will likely happen are that kessler will probobly win and froch probobly won’t win a round against dirrell until he most likely knocks him out around the 10th.I don’t think dirrell has ever gone 12 that will hurt him. Also if taylor comes into this thing in shape and stays that way all the way through I think he’ll be in the finals with kessler. He fought hopkins so he knows how to handle defensive fighters like abraham, he doesn’t need to worry about fading against abraham because he doesn’t have a high work rate.
To be honest the only reason Ward and Dirrell are in this tournament is to gain the American public’s interest in it and to get PPV’s over the pond.. I can think of far more deserving fighters than them.
1. Bika.
2. Bute.
3. Pascal (moving back down to SMW)
Taylor I can accept after his thrilling fight against Froch so IMO he deserves his crack. But seriously who the Fu*k are Ward and Dirrell? Who have they fought and what have they done to deserve their shots!
I hope Froch, Taylor and Kessler all win their first fights!!
Kessler will KO ward in 7th round.
ward tko kessler. Keep dreaming mate kessler is going to win the whole thing!
IMO Taylor has the best chance out of all the Americans. Despite his recent losses, he’s the most proven. I think he has a better chance vs Abraham than Ward has against Kessler or Dirrell has against Froch.
I dont know much about Ward but he wont KO Kessler the guy has never been floored as an amateur or pro
Tom, I agree with you across the board. Taylor needs to win in 8 rounds or less or he’ll likely lose and he likely will. Froch and Ward will win there fights. Ward takes it all. One note; if Taylor can some how beat Abraham, he has a shot at taking the whole thing (it’s a stretch, but Taylor has skills).
if the yanks all loose in the first round i could see the tourney falling apart.
semi finals will be abraham vs ward and froch vs kessler ward beats abraham by ud and froch knocks out kessler in 8 rounds the final froch vs ward froch will ware and tare ward dwon and land big rights hands all night and knock out ward in 8-11 rounds froch now is 25-0-(20) and will be at the end of the super six froch 30-0-(25) WBC,WBA,RING MAGAZINE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD AND WILL BE IN THE TOP 5 P4P RANKINGS IN THE WORLD
out of the americans ward is the best good speed good power and good chin . froch vs dirrell – froch will win by ko in 6-8 rounds. abraham vs taylor – abraham will win by tko in 11th round – kessler vs ward – ward will win by ud or by tko in 8-10 rounds