Andre Dirrell vs Carl Froch – Can Skill Overcome Will?

By Matt Flanagan: Say what you like about Carl Froch’s boxing skills and his style of fighting, nobody, least of all Dirrell himself, should be under any illusions that he has the biggest test of his career to date coming up when the 2 meet next month.

In the USA, the much-maligned Froch has been written off against the much hyped Dirrell. He is dismissed as being too slow, as having limited boxing skills and as having little or no defence. Dirrell has too much skill, is too fast, has too much power and will pick Froch off all night we hear.

Dirrell is quoted as saying ‘”I begged to get Froch in my first fight. He’s the guy I wanted. This is going to be my easiest fight. This is the fight where I’ll show off and look my best, and that’s a guarantee. I’ll look my best there because he’s just that easy to hit and he’s slow.” Big words from Dirrell, but as we know, talk is cheap and underestimating Froch is something he should do this at his own peril.

Lets ask ourselves some questions. Is Froch a limited fighter? Yes. Does Froch have little or no guard at times? Yes. On paper does Dirrell appear a better boxer? Yes. Does that mean that Dirrell only needs to turn up to win? Well, some would say yes, but I think that would be naïve to say the least.

Analysis of Froch’s win against Jermain Taylor is centered around Taylor’s ‘stamina problems’, rather than looking at what Froch brings to the table. If boxing was purely about skill and technique, then Taylor would be the champion – that is not in question. Unfortunately for Taylor, and the Froch haters out there, there is more to boxing than just talent. Froch got into the ring against a superior boxer, and came out victorious. Why is that? The reasons for his victory that night are often overlooked by people who instead want to put him down and point out the flaws in his style.

So why is Froch a real danger in this fight?

Froch has more experience, and has fought at a higher level than the untested Dirrell. There is the tendency in the US to hype up young, unbeaten fighters to a point where they believe they are invincible. This is dangerous for Dirrell who may well underestimate the enormity of the challenge ahead.

Also against Dirrell will the crowd. The bout is in Froch’s home city of Nottingham. It will be noisy, passionate and pro- Froch. Despite there being much criticism of ‘protected European fighters’, the truth, somewhat hypocritically, is that US fighters tend not to travel outside of the US to fight, so Dirrell is taking a step into the unknown in this respect and will never have fought in front of such a partisan crowd. Froch admitted to being a little overawed in his fight with Jermaine Taylor in Connecticut in April where the crowd were at least 95% Taylor, but eventually came through it to win. Only time will tell whether this has any effect on Dirrell.

Froch also has something that is impossible to instill in a fighter. He has a winning mentality and a steely resolve. This mental toughness will make him a difficult fighter to beat. On top of that, he has a good chin, has good power in both hands and is always going to be coming forward meaning that Dirrell will be pressurized continuously for 12 rounds.

Dirrell is going to attempt to outbox Froch. In and out, not allowing the fight to go toe-to-toe. This raises questions that Dirrell will need to answer in order to be victorious. Does Dirrell have the stamina to fight Froch for 12 rounds? There are no previous fights to refer to as he has never done it before, and we all know that Froch can, and that he will relentlessly pursue Dirrell, stalking him for 12 rounds. He knows he will get hit, but knows he can take a shot. At some point he is bound to catch Dirrell with a bomb and then we will see how much character Dirrell has. Can he dig deep when he needs to?

The beauty of boxing, and sport in general is that it is all about opinions. My opinion is that Froch is being taken too lightly. He is the defending champion, fighting in his home city, in front of his fans. There is no way he is going to roll over and die. I do not think Dirrell will knock him out, and no one truly knows whether Dirrell can fight for 12 rounds. Froch seems all too aware of this and has replied to Dirrell’s comments with the menacing “Let’s see how he reacts with being taken into the trenches.”

We will find out just how good or overrated Dirrell is next month when the super six tournament kicks off.

32 Responses to “Andre Dirrell vs Carl Froch – Can Skill Overcome Will?”