Dirrell: “I know I have pure talent over him [Froch]“

By Scott Gilfoid: Last night, in an interview on Showtime’s telecast of the Andre Ward vs. Shelby Pudwill bout, top super middleweight contender Andre Dirrell (18-0, 13 KO’s) chimed in with his comments on his next fight against WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (25-0, 20 KO’s). Dirrell, 26, has this to say about Froch: “I know I have pure talent over him. I know I have pure speed. He has power. He has never seen a guy like me, never been in the ring with a guy like me. I may lack experience but the one thing I don’t lack is the motivation.”

Dirrell and Froch will be meeting up on October 17th in the first part of the Super Six competition. In this case, the fight will take place in Froch’s neck of the woods in a place called Nottingham. Froch, 32, is hoping that his British fans will be a factor in pushing him to victory over the American Dirrell. It will be interesting to see if Froch can get any extra mileage with his British fans screaming their heads off for him to try and give him some extra energy and courage.

Goodness knows, Froch is going up against a major talent in the way of 26-year-old Dirrell. This isn’t one of Froch’s easy European foes or a stamina plagued Jermain Taylor. Dirrell has perhaps the best physical tools of any of the participants in the Super Six tournament, with better size, speed and power equal to the best of the fighters.

Froch is more of a nuts and bolts type of fighter, a kind of a slow throwback fighter from the 50s era who leads with his chin and counts on his ability to take punishment in order to dish out his own brand. However, Froch isn’t the most technically skilled fighter you’ll ever encounter, a fact which isn’t lost on Dirrell, who sees himself as vastly more technically skilled than Froch.

It’s hard not to see why, because Froch tends to lead with his chin held high in the air, like someone sniffing the environment for the smell of smoke. At the same time, Froch’s hands are generally by his sides hanging loosely as if vestigial appendages that no longer have any use. Kind of like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, in a way.

Froch is an open invitation for any fighter like Dirrell who has blazing fast hand speed and good power to hit him on the chin. This seems to be learned fighting strategy on Froch’s part, something that he’s aped from watching other more faster, better skilled fighters like Joe Calzaghe.

While it works for Calzaghe because of his great hand speed and athletic ability, it tends to be a terrible style for Froch. He just gets hit every time he comes forward with his hands down and it’s a wonderment to me that Froch hasn’t had someone take him to the side and tell him that it won’t hurt to put his hands up every once in awhile to try and block some shots.

Dirrell, on the other hand, is highly skilled at making opponents miss with their punches. Indeed, he’s almost unhittable at times because of his quick reflexes, good movement and his ability to pick of shots. Dirrell is everything that Froch is not. He’s a gifted fighter with natural athletic ability, a 2004 Olympic Bronze Medalist and perhaps the best fighter in the Super Six tournament.

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