Does anyone think Dirrell looked good against Froch?
October 19th, 2009
By Al Francis: Showtime’s exciting and innovative super six series got off to a flying start this past Saturday. Two out of the three opening bouts were contested, a major championship was up for grabs, 23 rounds were completed and another one almost completed! Firstly Arthur Abraham scored a chilling final round knockout over Jermain Taylor in Berlin, knocking out this writer’s pre fight prediction in the process! Up to that point in the fight it wasn’t a terribly difficult one to score, with Taylor boxing well in the first four rounds before Abraham upped his game and took the lead in the later rounds.
Throughout the 12 rounds Michigan’s Andre Dirrell showed himself to be the more talented athlete of the two, in this respect he certainly lived up to some of the hype as some members in the media were hailing him as perhaps the most gifted athlete of any of the super six competitors. If that can be said of Dirrell, then this can be said of Froch; He lived up to the hype of being perhaps the most iron-willed and doggedly determined of the six. His will to win is simply incredible. Though Froch did fail to impress, falling short on his attacks various times throughout the fight and occasionally being made to look clumsy, he still showed himself to be the rightful winner, pressing forward throughout and landing the more telling blows. Froch never had Dirrell in any serious trouble and the fight was somewhat of an anti-climax, he could only fight what was in front of him and he did enough against an extremely negative opponent to earn the nod from the judges.
As expected, Dirrell started fast and kept the fight on the outside, but Dirrell himself failed to impress as he refused to commit to any serious offence. It appeared the former Olympic medalist was content to run for the duration of the fight. Before the contest there was ridiculous comparisons to Muhammad Ali and Floyd Mayweather Jr., two fighters who have excelled in fighting on the back foot. For a start Ali could fight on the back foot and actually mount a reasonable offence at the same time. Dirrell cannot. Mayweather can fight on the back foot defensively until he finds himself on the ropes where he can perform his cute and masterful shoulder rolls in order to find effective opening’s on his man. Dirrell cannot.
Froch was the aggressor throughout, but ultimately he was faced with a negative opponent who didn’t want to fight. Every time Froch tried to get close Dirrell would run, and every time Froch found himself in range Dirrell would dive to the floor rather than trade too close for comfort. One writer going in even compared this fight to Ali-Liston, remember the blind round? Liston really got up close and personal in that one and I don’t recall Ali diving to the canvass rather than absorb punishment. These comparisons must surely grind to a halt now.
Froch did not look good, but neither did Dirrell, however both showed plenty of promise for the future. Froch with his undeniable will to win, if faced with an opponent fighting positively will always be involved in an exciting fight. Dirrell, with the athleticism also showed plenty of promise while failing to impress. In terms of movement and ring generalship he showed great finesse but that just doesn’t win boxing matches unless accompanied with a mountable offence, which in this fight was lacking. Dirrell will have learned his lesson in this loss, something he himself has already admitted and I’m sure he can go on, you still cannot count him out of this tournament. But all in all, he will certainly have to up his game to progress, his next one is against Arthur Abraham. He could, and probably will, dance circles around Abraham, but with the German based Armenian’s ultra tight defense Dirrell will really have to mount a far more committed offence. The fight he fought on Saturday would be even less effective against Abraham. Tapping Abraham’s gloves 2 to 3 times in quick succession before fleeting to the other side of the ring WILL result in another dull fight, and another loss for Dirrell.
Tags: 34 Responses to “Does anyone think Dirrell looked good against Froch?”
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im a brit, and direll won the fight clear
The Adder LOST! Squirrell was ROBBED!
Dawud, agreed son.>!!
Froch should be stripped of his title, Boxing has no integrity left! thats a real shame, DIRRELL WON THAT FIGHT!
People need to stop with this “enough to win” crap. What is that? Either score a knockout, or score enough won rounds to get a decision. Did Dirrell win morre rounds? YES!!! Even with the point deduction. There were maybe three rounds where Froch could find him, and even then all he did was rabbit punch, hit and hold, or wrestle. It’s a slap in the face to say a fighter must do more than a champ or hometown favorite to win. That’s admitting a bias from start. I love boxing, but it has gotten too far out of hand with the judging. There is someone getting robbed on an almost weekly basis.
some good points david,i also thought dirrell won the fight!dirrel was running but froch should have done a better job of cutting off the ring.i do thing the ref should have done somthing about the holding sooner than he did.
i dont think dirrell needed to hold !
I thought he looked better than Froch, which is the key factor.
anyone who thinks dirrel was robbed needs to rewatch the fight with the sound down & pay atension to how many shots dirrel actually threw & landed because it wasn`t many
his combos looked flashy but there were far too few!
combined with his running & holding meant that most of those close rounds went to froch
the reaction by some is rediculous
I never thought much of froch as a fighter in general . I beleived he would lose this fight badly . That being said . Dirrell just plain ran TOO much . Im old school .. to win this or any ttle fight you should have to BEAT the champ . Not just edge him out
FROCH LOOKED BAD, ONLY BECAUSE (WELL HE REALLY ISNT THAT GOOD, LETS BE HONEST, HE IS AWESOEM TO WATCH THOUGH) DIRRELL LOOKED LIKE A JOKE . ITS HARD TO HIT A PERSON WHO RUNS AND CLINCHES, ALL THE DAMN TIME
NEGATIVE, HE LOOKED LIKE AN AMATURE…LOL, I MEAN HE WILL BEAT MY @$$ BUT I DONT BOX, IMA A CRITIC, AND IAM CRITIZING EM, HE LOOKED LIKE GARBAGE…
Dirrell landed the cleaner punches, and he landed a lot more of them. Froch landed maybe three solid punches the whole night, while Dirrell was delivering clean counters regularly. Compubox would have shown how Dirrell thoroughly deconstructed Froch. In any event, i thought it was a very entertaining fight. There was a lot of tension, because even though Dirrell was outscoring Froch the entire fight, you always felt Froch could take the fight with a big blow. The big blow never came though, and ultimately I felt as though this were a fairly obvious instance of hometown advantage. Which is fine on most nights, but not very good for a tournament that is being tasked with reviving the sport of boxing.
I have to say i think Dirrell won by a couple of rounds he was running away a bit at times though.
The only person who thought Dirrell looked good is that fool Scott Gilford!!! cant you and the other writers on this site get together and kick his arse of this site? All we ask is a decent article with relevant news. Instead Gilford fills the site with racist jingoistic rubbish!
Good article Dirrell lacked any characteristics of a champion all, no resources at all when it came to taking a shot just holding and pretending to slip, plus everytime he jasbbed he steppped back looking like Audley Harrison in his first fight with Danny Williams
dirrell may have being inexperienced but by my understanding of boxing, i feel he may have done enough to win the fight . it showed at the end of the fight when both fighters were waiting for the decision. froch did not seem sure that he had won. both fighters knelt down and were holding hands, looking tense.its funny that froch was saying that he should have won rounds 1-12. i like froch’s charisma as a champion, seems like rocky with his will and grit. this fight is smelling of a rematch. its a learning experience for dirrell though.
straight right and jstraightright are a right laugh, are they from clownsville u.s.a?
haha Matt , straight right wont even know the meaning of irony, because he is a typical dumb yank !!
I think dirrel did looked very good, in a very feminine way, kind of beautifull and delicate, but a little needy in the way he cuddled on a lot, but maybe he just needed some comfort as it was quite rough in there.
Yes the american dirrell was very much alike to an english lady in my opinion, but that’s the thing with these broads, one minute there playing hard to get then the next minute you cant get rid off them.
Good article. I agree
Straight right – I love the irony of your comment!
straightright u retard jus face it dirrell lost fair and square move on !
neither one impressed but dirrell I think won the fight by just landing more punches and the more significant ones in the fight he definitely buzzed froch several times in the fight. But I also believe in the fact that in order to take the belt you just can’t do enough to get it you have to really impress and TAKE the belt from the champ.
love the title…
Not a fan of either, but Dirrell certainly didn’t bring his A-game for a world title fight, tap n’ run might look pretty but it aint gonna win a title from a tough, fearless champion – let’s move on and see how the next fight goes.
Super 6 is great entertainment!
Neither fighter looked good at all, styles make fights and both of these guys styles made for a very dull fight. Having said that it was very close but you can’t become world champion by running and clinching and not engaging for the first 9 rounds, not that froch did much better but at least he tried to be the aggressor and land a few shots. Very dissapointing fight which could have gone either way and the judges cards reflected that
Im a Brit and i dont think Froch won that fight. I dont even like him. But still glad he got the descision over a Yank lol
i think he looked good and won in running and dancing.
Actually can anyone tell me how Froch looked good? What did he do well? what did he do to impress? Walking someone down relentlessly with no real answer once you get there doesnt look good in my opinion.
Here’s the deal: The limeys thought that Froch won the fight, while the rest of the civilized world thinks that Dirrell won it. I guess we win. When are the limeys going to see past ther nationality?
Explain how he looked good Bmastermind?
he looked good and he won.
I think this fight came too early for him. He looked very much like he hadn’t a clue how to fight on the inside. If he learns a few tricks then he might be dangerous. I think the same for ward frankly. He isn’t really ready for a fighter like kessler. Shame, because both could be great in the future if this tourament doesn’t destroy them.
When it was announced I thought Abraham might be the weaker fighter of the Europeans, now he’s shown he deserves to be there, I just can’t see any of the Americans winning a fight against any of them. Only question I have is who will face kessler in the final round…
I have to agree with you jstraightright. I gave it to Dirrell by 2 rounds. He did run an awful lot in the 1st half of the fight i must admit, but still managed to nick them rounds with the cleaner shots. And in rounds 10 and 11 he did a real number on Froch when he decided to finally get more aggressive. He should have traded more with Froch as i feel he was way to slick for Froch who plodded forward like am Egyption mummy. I think Dirrell may still have a good chance in this tournament. Froch’s post fight interview was obsurd, claiming that it was an easy fight for him and that he dominated. He’s had 2 title defenses and has been lucky in both of them. Joe Calzaghe he is not!
Anyone who thought Froch looked good must be blind..What an absolute joke!! Dirrell won that fight in every way..