Andre Dirrell looking to become the next super star in boxing

By Scott Gilfoid: Blessed with amazing hand speed, size and power, the talented Andre Dirrell (18-1, 13 KO’s) is on the cusp of becoming the next huge star in the boxing world. Dirrell, only 26, takes part in his second fight in the Super Six tournament against knockout artist Arthur Abraham (31-0, 25 KO’s) on March 27th, at the Joe Louis Arena, in Detroit, Michigan. Dirrell is ready for anything that Abraham will be bringing in that fight, and expects the Armenian German based fighter to be trying to take him apart from the opening bell. In an article at the Las Vegas Sun, Dirrell says “This fight right here is a trademark fight. It will be marked down as one of the biggest fights Michigan has had, and I’m happy to be a part of that.”

Dirrell is right. The Joe Louis arena is likely to sellout for this fight with over 20,000 Dirrell fans streaming in to see him take Abraham apart and show his skills to the Showtime audience. Dirrell’s opponent, the 30-year-old Abraham, defeated Jermain Taylor by a 12th round knockout last October in the first bout of the Super Six tournament. Abraham looked nothing special through most of the fight until hurting Taylor with a forearm and right hand combination that staggered him in the 9th.

Taylor never seemed to recover from those two blows and was later taken out in the 12th round from a straight right hand from Abraham. The win over Taylor has given Abraham three points in the Super Six tournament and put him, at least for now, alone at the top of the Super Six tourney scoring. However, Abraham won’t likely stay at the top for long if Dirrell has anything to say about it.

The beauty of the Super Six tournament is that whoever emerges as the winner of the tournament will very likely be a huge star in the sport given all of the visibility that the fighter will get on Showtime. Dirrell says “A superstar will definitely emerge at the end of this tournament. And I think that will be me. I’m looking forward to making history.” If Dirrell beats everyone in the tourney, which won’t be easy, he’ll clearly be one of the biggest names in boxing.

I think he can do it. The only real problems I see for Dirrell is a fight against fellow American Andre Ward that Dirrell has coming up next. As of now, Ward is rehabilitating an injured right knee which caused him to postpone his April 24th fight against Allan Green. Beyond Ward, the opposition is thinner, arguably much less talented with the slow Abraham and the equally slow Carl Froch as two of the European fighters.

Both Froch and Abraham are sluggers by nature, slow of hand and slow of foot, and who generally plod their way to victory. Allan Green has great hand speed, excellent power, but has faced mostly limited opposition during his career. This is a big step up for Green, and it’s doubtful he’ll be able to take successfully take that step without falling on his face completely and getting beaten by his next two opponents.

Dirrell lost his first fight of the Super Six tourney to Carl Froch, losing a 12 round split decision last October. Dirrell, speaking about that loss says, “I believe I won that fight. Overall, the fans felt I won that fight.” I believe Dirrell won the fight as well, I saw him winning eight rounds to three with one even. However, fans from the UK, for the most part, believe that Froch won the fight. It could be that they’re sticking up for their fellow Brit but it also could be that they see boxing in a different light than fans from other parts of the world. I know for me, I thought it was a landslide win for Dirrell, and thought it was one of the best performances I’d seen in the ring since watching Floyd Mayweather Jr., work his magic against Arturo Gatti in 2005.

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