Abraham-Taylor, Froch-Dirrell – Super Six Tourney Preview

By Scot Gilfoid: Next month, on October 17th, the Super Six tournament starts with two first two bouts of the series with super middleweights Arthur Abraham vs. Jermain Taylor and Andre Dirrell vs. Carl Froch in what will likely be two explosive bouts. The third bout, Andre Ward vs. Mikkel Kessler, will take place a month later on November 21st.

The first part of the tournament is called the group I portion with the top fighters moving on to the second part, group II. As of now, Kessler and Ward are considered to be two of the fighters that will make it to the second part. However, I have a sinking suspicion that Dirrell will be in there as well.

Froch-Dirrell

The Froch vs. Dirrell fight is one of the more interesting bouts in the tournament for me. The reasons are simple. It matches two fighters that are complete opposites of each other in terms of talent. Dirrell has the speed and the boxing ability going for him, while Froch is a fighter without much speed or the same kind of athleticism who looks like he would be more comfortable in another generation.

Maybe that’s why Froch has found success in this day and age. There are so few fighters like him nowadays because boxers without much hand speed or defense like him are generally weeded out well before they get a shot at a title. Froch has been able to find success because he has a chin made of iron and that’s allowed him to take the shots that would have normally knocked out a fighter with a lesser chin.

However, Froch was exposed in his last fight against Jermain Taylor and knocked down by the American fighter in the 3rd. Froch continued to take a frightening amount of punishment until Taylor wore down, pretty much from throwing too many punches rather than from anything that Froch was doing in the bout, and was stopped in the 12th round. The bout was exciting and won Froch a number of fans in the United States.

However, we have to be real about this. Froch didn’t look at all good and seemed to win the fight by wearing Taylor’s hands out on his face. That strategy will likely fail against the super faster, better conditioned Dirrell, as he doesn’t get hit a lot. Froch, then, will have to find a way to get his shots in against a fighter who won’t be standing in front of him.

It won’t be easy for Froch. In fact, I give him little to no chance of being able to pull this win off. He’s facing a fighter that is superior to him in every way possible – speed, defense, power, and size. There’s really only one area where the slow-footed Froch is better than Dirrell and that’s in the chin department. But, that alone won’t be enough for Froch to get the win.

This is a fight that Froch, with his primitive fighting style, won’t be at all ready for. I don’t think Dirrell can knock Froch out, but I do see him beating him worse than Floyd Mayweather Jr. beat Juan Manuel Marquez recently. We’re talking an atrocious one-sided fight. Froch will look like an old timer against a modern fighter and be black and blue by the time this fight is over.

Abraham-Taylor

Jermain Taylor (28-3-1, 17 KO’s) has really sunk to the depths of his career with three losses in his last four fights. If that’s not a signal that his career is all but over, I don’t know what is. It’s not that Taylor, 31, is finished as a fighter, but it shows that he’s probably no longer a champion-caliber fighter at this point in his career. However, Taylor still has fast hands, good power and excellent boxing skills. The things that are missing is stamina and a good chin.

Taylor could disguise his chin problem if he had better stamina, but it looks like he’s going to continue to have problems wearing down in his fights. Supposedly, Taylor is working hard at fixing his conditioning problems by working out at George Foreman’s gym in Houston, Texas. Let’s hope for Taylor’s sake that he can make some inroads in that area. I doubt he will.

Abraham (30-0, 24 KO’s) has looked nearly invincible in the past few years as he’s held the IBF middleweight title. His opposition has been questionable, and he seems to be deteriorating in terms of work rate in the past year. His power has bailed him out in fights, and without it, Abraham would have likely been beaten several times in the past two years. His work rate is a major problem that he needs to fix if he wants to beat Taylor on October 17th, and get through the tourney in one piece.

I see both Taylor and Abraham as flawed fighters that are starting to show their age. Taylor should win this fight based on his work rate and speed, but if he screws up and tries to trade with Abraham, he’ll be taken out in a hurry. I like to watch both of them fight, but I can’t see either of these guys making it to the finals. They’re too limited at this point. Although both are either over are around 30, they’re looking old and probably won’t make the cut.

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