Dirrell: Abraham’s arms are too short, and he can’t box

By Scott Gilfoid: The talented Andre Dirrell (18-1, 13 KO’s) let his feelings known about his opponent for this Saturday night Arthur Abraham (31-0, 25 KO’s), saying this to the news site bild: Abraham has too short, he cannot box, and I’m going to give him his first defeat. The 20,000 fans at the Joe Louis Arena [in Detroit, Michigan] will be pushing me, my 30 family members who will be there, and to the millions of TV viewers while see me win.” I totally agree with you, Mr. Dirrell. This is what I’ve saying all along. Abraham’s arms are way too short to beat a tall fighter like Dirrell.

Abraham may be listed at 5’10”, which is four inches shorter than Dirrell, but he’s got some seriously short arms for his height. This is going to be a one-sided bombing attack from long range, and the short-armed Abraham won’t be able to do a thing about it. Abraham’s got these stubby little arms that seem to not really fit with his long torso. It looks kind of strange. Not only does Abraham have short arms, but he can’t box to save his life. Abraham is first and foremost a pure slugger.

That’s what he does and that’s all he does. He doesn’t box. I’ve seen most of Abraham’s fights and he’s all about covering up in his Clottey-like crab defense, taking a ton of shots in the first six rounds, and then basically going wild in his crude attacks in the 2nd half of the fight. He still never throws that many punches.

Abraham is always being very stingy with letting his hands go. I’d like to see him throw jabs, move around the ring and show some boxing skills, but thus far I’ve never seen that side from Abraham and I’m not expecting to see it on Saturday night when he fights Dirrell at the Joe Louis Arena. Believe me, it’ll be more of the same from Abraham. He’ll go after Dirrell with his primitive caveman attack, trying to steal rounds or take Dirrell out with one big shot.

That is going to a losing strategy on Abraham’s part. You got to show some skills to beat a talented fighter like Dirrell. Those crude types of attacks don’t work on him.

Dirrell says “I am lighting, dance like Muhammad Ali, and can change constantly my looks. I’m going to totally confuse Abraham.” You are so right, Andre. Dirrell fights like a young Ali, with hand speed that reminds me a lot of Roy Jones Jr. and Floyd Mayweather. Dirrell will move, adapt, change and have Abraham so confused it won’t even be funny.

The thing of it is Abraham is going into this fight seeming kind of cocky from his win over Jermain Taylor and all those victories over middleweight opponents in the past four years. But, I don’t see any of those fighters as being anywhere close to being as good as Dirrell. I see most of those guys that Abraham has beaten as purely B level fighters.

The only good fighters he beat were Taylor and Edison Miranda, and those guys weren’t exactly at their best when they met up with Abraham. The problem with Abraham is he’s not only too short, too slow but he’s also lacking in boxing skills. And when you throw in the fact that he’s going to be fighting in front of 20,000 Dirrell fans in Detroit, it spells defeat in a big way for Abraham.

I just hope the guy doesn’t start fouling. The last thing I want to see is Abraham losing his cool and picking Dirrell up like he’s some big time wrestler and body slamming him. The referee is going to have to be on his toes in this fight because when a fighter is getting dominated badly for the first time, they sometimes lose it. Once they get used to losing, they usually become more manageable.

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