Decisions, decisions; Was Froch/Dirrell a bad one and what will Jermain Taylor decide to do next?
October 18th, 2009
By Peter Howells: Last night, Showtime’s revolutionary super six super-middleweight tournament got going with two different bouts and two different fights. I’ll start with the bout from Berlin as fearsome IBF Middleweight Champion Arthur Abraham stepped up a weight to take on another former middleweight champion in American star, Jermain Taylor.
Yes, Taylor lost by 12th round KO again to Abraham but it wasn’t as a result of his stamina. He just got caught with a beautiful right hand from the hard-punching Armenian. This was a very different last round to the Froch fight. Taylor came into this round trailing on points (I had it 106-103 for Abraham going in) and needing a knockout himself. Yet he clearly did not look tired. He came out pressing forward, throwing the jab out (unlike the Froch fight where he just ran backwards in a straight line) and up until he got caught, I thought Taylor was going to nick the last round. Yet get caught he did, a huge right hand landing as he came forward himself, and as we all know how hard Abraham punches, the result was inevitable. Taylor was out on the canvas and the bout waved off.
This was a huge win over a big US name for Abraham after Pavlik has avoided him ever since beating Taylor himself, and it has made Abraham an early favourite to win the tourney. But what now for Taylor who was apparently hospitalized after the fight for a concussion? Personally, I think Taylor should, and will, fight on. He looked good in this fight just not as good as Abraham, and struggled to deal with Abraham’s power. He was however, clearly not a shot fighter and should have the tools to defeat Ward in his next bout as I don’t believe Ward can keep Taylor at bay with his power like Abraham did. If Taylor does fight on, I still see him as a player in this tournament.
Now on to the other, and much more controversial fight in Nottingham where Carl Froch defended his WBC Super-Middleweight title against rising U.S star, Andre Dirrell (I refuse to call him ‘Matrix’!) This bout of course, ended with a split decision for hometown boy Froch handing Dirrell his first defeat. As everyone who watched this fight knows, it was not entertaining to witness. With Dirrell’s constant running and Froch’s frustration showing itself in some dirty tactics, there was very little to write home about. Until the judge’s results came in.
Froch had been given the split decision, a result which has not sat well with a certain biased writer on this website who shall remain nameless and has thrown all his toys out of the pram over it. My scorecard had it 115-113 for Dirrell but I still don’t think he was robbed. The fact is this; This fight was terribly difficult to score. Dirrell landed when he threw punches but he didn’t do this often enough as he was too busy running everywhere, not wanting to test his chin. Froch threw punches but often only hit air due to Dirrell’s speed and footwork. There was only a couple of clear cut rounds I feel, the rest could have gone either way. I honestly wanted to score a lot of them as even but knew that the judges wouldn’t so I forced myself to find a winner in most of them which was almost impossible to do. The majority of these I gave to Dirrell but knew that there was a case to give them to Froch. It really did depend on what you saw; Dirrell’s defensive skills or Froch’s aggression and dictation of the pace. Obviously two of the three judges went with Froch’s aggression, and that is nothing to do with a so called ‘hometown’ decision, that is just down to individual opinion. Was Dirrell unlucky? Perhaps so. But imagine if Froch had lost his title in a fight like that, I would also consider him unlucky. The fairest result here would have probably been a draw, but judges rarely do that. There has to be a winner and a loser and it 100 & could have gone either way and as such I don’t consider it a bad decision. Dirrell will learn from this fight and learn that to beat someone at this level, he has to do more than what he did last night.
Tags: 54 Responses to “Decisions, decisions; Was Froch/Dirrell a bad one and what will Jermain Taylor decide to do next?”
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The pig who squells loudest Mark F. Stop making excuses you goat humping neanderthal.
Dirrell despite too much holding and running landed more effective punches. Froch threw combinations that were always missing. Dirrell should have won the decision. Dirrell should have had more points taken for holding, but Froch too was hitting behind the head, worthy of point deductions.
r u talking about me Peplz? stop crying you virgin
The author has it spot on. I scored it a 115/115 draw meaning Froch reamins the champ. It’s perfectly reasonable to give it 1 or 2 points either way though. In my opinion it would have been unfair for a champion to lose his title in a close, messy fight like that in which his opponent was clinching and back peddalling all the time. Froch won’t have to going charging around the ring looking foe Kessler. Mikkel will hold his ground and outbox him. Kessler by KO within 10.
Yeah a hometown gift… Plain & simple !!!
What was up with froch, what was rong with his right hand he looked scaired to use it but all in all I was there and I think that it was a good fight in the end and we got one up on the Americans
Well said Ben & peplz … I like Froch but he’s a B level fighter. I think Dirrell won the fight (after watching it twice) I had the same conclusion..!! You have to love a guy like Froch for having a lot of heart but he is not a very skilled fighter at all !! Dirrell could have made it much easier but he showed his age & inexperience. He still did enough to win & had Froch hurt in the only exciting moment in the fight. Still I don’t feel either one will go very far in the super six. Dirrell is to inexperienced & lacks heart, & Froch is a slow, B level fighter who doesn’t take a very good punch & will be destroyed by Abraham & Kessler !! If he fights Abraham his heart might get him killed !! That being said don’t bother trying to argue your point against our English counter parts. It tends to be more about ego than logic & when it gets heated they will block you from the blog (well only us Americans..lol) And to our allies across the pond….We can agree to disagree…
But I hope you have honor & give respect to the Patriots when they visit next week……..
GO PAT’s…!!!!
ROOTS, dry your eyes mate, watch the fight again, then watch Jean Pascals performance when he came to Nottingham, you’ll lose a lot of admiration for Dirrell and probably take down one of your 20 posters of down
guys you should know there is a clue in the name of the sport , its called boxing and if you want to be a champion you have to take from a champion and not run from him
Ali ran and hold in every one of his fights,great fighters like Frazier,Norton and even Foreman were able to cut off the ring on him and get in with good punches.This big mouth bum of a fighter does`nt know how to cut off the ring on an apponent,and he is supposed to be a world champion.when or if the stats are released,you will see that Direll landed 2 times the amount of power punches as croch,Direll was robbed big time.but unless the other fights are made in his backyard again,this will be his only win.
Good article, it wasnt a bad decision.
Direll has to learn to do more than what he did to beat a champion on points.
All of Dirrells fans have no boxing knowledge at all, weren’t you fustrated by the negative way Dirrell fought, really he wasnt landing anything of substance, Taylor was outboxing Froch but Dirrell was getting caught start to finish by Frochs jab and if anything he let America down, he gives all that mouth just to fight on the backfoot and he didnt really jab, just parried, his big chance and he didnt even try to impress, Pascal came over from Canada and gave it a really good go, then again Canada probably have more fighting spirit.
Froch has a win over a fighter he was never able to hit. Enough said!
I completely agree with peplz. Froch won very few rounds. Watch it in mute and it’s obvious. 30 seconds of ineffective bull rushing doesn’t trump two and a half minutes of good boxing to win a round! But the crowd went crazy and judges got confused.
Kessler is badly overmatched against Ward and I will be there in Oakland, Ca to see him get knocked out. I can’t wait to hear what the Europeans supremacists say after Ward whoops all of your white fighters. Its pretty obvious to any fair observer that Froch lost this fight. But since Nottingham fighters only need be agressive without landing any meaningful shots to win I guess you have to give it to Froch. The only question I want answered is who landed the most puncches and who land the most effective punches. You can’t give Froch rounds in a fight because you don’t like how his opponent is fighting him and call it a fair decision. There are some guidelines to judging aren’t there?
dirrel got robbed i had him up by 3 maybe even four rounds but does any body know the official score cards for the taylor fight before the twelve round?
scott this fight is over, isn’t it time to start on article number 10 of 100 regarding how badly kessler is overmatched vs ward
I like a good slugfest like all fans but its more to the sport than that. Anyone off the street can fight. Boxing is also a science, its hit and don’t get hit, its ring generalship, footwork,and judges should score effective aggression not ineffective plodding forword.
I hope Kessler beats Froch senseless and expose him for the slow,plodding, off balance fighter he truly is. I respect his power and determination but his skills leave much to be desired.
hey Oli enoug of this coward stuff, you get in the ring w/h someone trying to take your head off and then you have the right. These men risk there lives every fight so I’m not bold enough to call a fighter a coward. He did run and hold, making it an ugly fight but Froch did some questionable bush leauge things also, I knew he’d get the decision but it coulda went either way. Before I read these post I hope AA isn’t coronated as boxings king kong like the other sites
Excellent and objective article. Well done, Peter Howells.
Agree with everything you said.
let’s get to finals already abraham vs kessler! the americans are no match here.
Andre Dirrell fought an outstanding fight against the hometown favorite Froch.
Fantastic fair article. Much better than anything Gilfoid could ever write.
eric, I suppose your kind of boxing include hugging you opponent every time they are close, falling on the floor for safety on numberous occasions and running away around the ring like he was on ice skates?? I think your type of boxing sucks, the few licks he got made his face swell up as well and an minor eye cut, froch looked exactly the same as before the fight. Apart from one punch in the eleventh from direll, they was all girly slaps. If Dirrell didnt hug in the 6th he would have got knocked out.
I think it could’ve gone either way, dirrell can’t fight ok the inside, and any talented fighter he faces now will just jump on him. He has Roget a new trainer and learn how to handle the rough stuff, not just hold on or fall over. I fancy abraham to do pretty much the same thing to him to be honest, just follow him around and make him fight or flee. Chances are he’ll learn he has to fight at least sometimes if he wants to be a serious contender.
good article I had Abrahams, winning every round from 4 with ease,
Direll could have won but, I have to say Steve Bunce was right in a way you should do more than Dirrell did if u want to take a world champions belt, his tactics were unsportingly, I think the refs they should take away points if u continue to purposely try hug your opponent, that way we wont get as many crap fights.
i am brittish and i have to say froch was a lucky boy to get the decision. dirrel edged it for me but it was an awfull fight to watch!! for all the heart that froch has he is very slow on his feet and with his hands, and has got lucky against taylor and dirrel. how he keeps calling calzaghe out is beyond me, calzaghe would do a lacy on him, hes just to slow.
yep i agree its boxing not running and dancing around. heck the face of dirrel looks puffier than froch after the fight even though it seems like dirrel had more potshot weak jab than froch!
It was a bad decision in terms of being SPLIT Froch should’ve won unaminous, I have only seen rounds 5-12 but all I give Dirrell is round 10 but then he got a point took off, it was pathetic how he convieniently slipped 3TIMES in round 6 alone every time Froch was about to throw a right, and as slow as Froch is no-one can deny the fact that his jab was landing throughout, Dirrell didnt hardly jab at all just kept retreating, he will never be a champion as he hasnt got the heart. It was scrappy but styles make fights, look at Froch v Pascal great fight and Pascal fought like a man. All I can say is that Dirrell is lucky Richie Edwards was’nt refereing as he would’ve chucked him outta there for holding like he did.
This was a boxing match. Dirrell clearly outboxed Froch. His punches were more accurate and more numerous. Froch was frustrated and tried to turn the match into a brawl. Again – the sport is “boxing” not “brawling”.
dirrel is an olympic sprint runner. i’m an american that was initially rooting for him sentimentally since taylor got ktfo. seeing how he was unwilling to fight by running and hugging and strangely complaining, i then started going for froch. the right man won!!! dirrel is in the wrong sport…..
Did anybody really think anyone besides Kessler and Abraham would be in the finals of this tournament? Froch only a punchers chance, Dirrell and Ward two kids who who don’t belong in the same ring with Kessler or Abraham, and Taylor washed up 3 fights ago!!!
Froch’s defence is awful, he has no speed and actually blocks with his face! Im very English but I agree, Kessler/Abraham will take Froch out.
Great article. Dirrell has the skills but he didn’t want to fight and you don;t deserve a world title running complaining and holding all night. I honestly though dirrell won by a round BUT i can def see it the way the judges did as well it just depends what you look for.
Having watched Froch vs Taylor and Dirrell its clear that he will be found out somewhere down the line in this tournament. I’m as english as they come and hell no i dont want him to lose but his footwork is terrible and the fact that he flicks his jab out almost back handing people is crazy. If Dirrell had been more experienced I’m sure he would have the guts to put a right cross on Frochs chin after lening back to the right after slipping his flicking jab.
Froch fought a good fight againt Pascal and can scrap but i get the feeling he thinks he is a lot better than he actually is.
He talks the talk so only time will tell….
Finally, a well written unbiased article form someone on this site.
Why are Scott’s numerous articles published? He has about 3 articles so far on the same thing?! At least another writer on here has noticed and acknowledged his bias!!
Okay. All I hear is Andre Dirrell ran. I hear nothing of what Carl Froch did to earn a victory. Sounds like a bunch of excuses for a bad decision.
Dirrel what a lovely good hearted lad, and for a american fairly honest well at least not a phoney, I say this as if you think about it to go ahead and call yourself a warrior at the end of such a display of what was really a cowardly and unendearing way to box, that looked more like plain running scared rather than fighting is just really lying to yourself, yea it’s good boxing but a warrior? naa. Running or hugging, I have never seen someone avoid trouble so much in my life. Then the hugger tries to mirror blame the hugged “he was pulling me in” was he for real with that comment? people are not fooled but more importantly dont lie to yourself its all recorded your gonna get found out, unless you live in a fantasy world which I am sure dirrell really does not..although this seems to make sense in america the extreme being the case of floyd mayweather! who speaks more crap to deceive than anyone, the biggest phoney of them all. To be honest the way dirrell dealt the fight was the only way possible for him to deal with someone as upfront as froch, but dont kid your self up and pretend you where the warrior who was being “dragged in”
In a funny kind of way I am glad that dirrell did avoid conflict at all cost (Froch was literally running after him knees in the air at one point) I say this as I did not want to see him hurt in the same terrible way taylor was, I actually felt really bad for taylor the way he got flopped right at the end again.
The better man won. I hope ward does better for the sake of improving and restoring balance to the european/american divide, but I dont see it.
Well lets just see how andrea “The running Man” Dirrell fairs against AA.
I am certain Dirrell will do exactly the same as last night but fair slightly better with the bigger reach advantage.
I felt sorry for Taylor. I wanted him to win but he is going to get hurt if he continues, he was great in his prime but now he needs retire or take on some opponents inwhich he can get his confidence back. Allen Green could take his place or maybe even Sakio Beika.
I wish Taylor the best of luck!
I had froch by 1 round
dirrel should be good for dancing with stars and track and field he has good skills in running and dancing!! thank goodness it’s not pay perview otherwise my money just went to waste! onething i learned though never see a dirrel fight! very boring!!!h yeah one more dirrel would be good for sweet dancing as well he likes to cling!!
sad to see jermain get knocked out again.he deserved to go the distance.
I keep hearing people on this site talk about Carl Froch deserving this victory. But I haven’t heard one comment about what he did to deserve to win. Aggression is not and should not be scored in boxing. Its called effective aggression. All I’ve heard about is how ineffective Froch was. You don’t win rounds by trying to hit someone and missing. You don’t win rounds because your opponent is running and clinching (unless the referee decides to deduct a point). You win rounds by clean and effective punching. So this “you don’t beat the champ by fighting like that” just sounds like British fans excusing the poor hometown judging in this fight. Seems like the judges gave Carl the fight for dirty rabbit punching. If British boxing fans are going to really consider this a victory it seems that they are all as much sleaze bag excuse makers as Carl Froch showed that he is in the post fight interview. He’s whining like some kind of defense attorney and Andre Dirrell (who had just been robbed) was a good sport and took it well. Carl Froch is a low life. I hope British boxing fans are proud of the guy who so exemplifies there national principals.
well done froch. keep that guard up.
i like dirrel but if he fights like that against abraham he`ll lose another decision (and stink the place out!)
he`s got the skills ,he just needs to be more positive!
An excellent article and fair. Agree with it.
not bad ifs and whens. someone write about froch vs abraham and how good it will be this has the makeing of an all time great how about u scott u could get some respect back
Thank you. At least one writer on this site knows what a balanced analysis is.
cowardice? Dirrell won dude, I had win winning by 2 rounds, so did Jon Thaxton and the other commentator – dirrell was robbed and everybodu knows it!
well written and i agree, the fight was awful, dirrell looked like he had the skill and speed but didn’t dare engage in fear of getting caught by frochs power. i dont think dirrell was robbed and i also think it was very difficult to score but in no way did dirrell beat froch or deserve to be world champion with a performance like that. also carl froch thinks he could beat calzaghe, and the american public and writers think dirrell is better than calzaghe but after last night it is totally clear that calzaghe would have destroyed either of these two with ease
At last an interesting and analytical report.
I had Froch by 2 to 3 rounds as the aggressor with Dirrell spending too long holding, complaining and ducking low but the fight was close.
As an outcome, it is two points on the board and retention of an unbeaten record, but has probably not done much for Froch’s reputation as he looked a little pedestrian by the fast elusive Dirrell, even though he was the only one that came to fight and consistently entertain.
For Dirrell, although he has lost his unbeaten record, it should prove to be a good learning experience in fighting outside the US against a World Champion and proving that he needs to be more aggressive.
And jermain taylor is finished. If he contines with the tournament he will be knocked out again. His ability, heart, confidence, everythings gone
Dirrell didnt deserve to win with his cowardice attitude