By Sam Gregory: Tonight the undefeated tournament leader Arthur Abraham 31-0 with 25 KO’s takes on southpaw Andre Dirrell 18-1 with 13 KO’s in the second round stage of Showtime’s Super Six tournament from Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

In round 1 Abraham came out in that typical straight standing European style with his gloves on either side of his face while Dirrell used his jab going to the body with little effect on Abraham.

Round 2 Abraham started this round in the same defensive stance; Dirrell again used his jab while Abraham pushing forward throwing combinations that successfully got the attention of Dirrell.

Dirrell appeared to win both rounds

Round 3 Dirrell came out lunging at his opponent with his jab which prompted Abraham to unleash with his combinations; Dirrell continued to throw his jab when Abraham landed a powerful right hand that stunned Dirrell; Abraham landed another solid right in the closing seconds of the round.

Round 4 Dirrell again came out throwing his jab while Abraham covered up and occasionally threw a combination; in the final seconds Abraham was caught with a solid left and when down for the first time in his pro career.

Round 5 Dirrell came out aggressively backing Abraham into the ropes; Dirrell stayed busy with his jab while Abraham countered but Dirrell had the far better exchanges and landed more punches to win another round.

Round 6 in the opening seconds Dirrell landed a low blow giving Abraham five seconds to recover. In less than a minute both men were ready to go this time Dirrell threw and landed punches with more confidence while Abraham stayed on the defense; Dirrell had another very successful round.

Round 7 Dirrell stepped up his lateral movement using the ring to his advantage staying on Abraham landing solid combinations. Abraham threw a couple combinations which had little effect on Dirrell; at the close of the round Abraham walked to his corner with blood under both eyes.

Between rounds talks increased about Abraham needing a knockout to win

Round 8 Dirrell came out aggressively landing combinations backing Abraham across the ring; by the closing seconds of the round Abraham threw harder combinations but it was becomi0ng too little too late

Round 9 Dirrell came out throwing his jab using the ring; Dirrell landed a stinging jab the prompted the ref to call time out to have the doctor look At Abraham’s cuts. When the round resumed Dirrell when right after Abraham throwing combinations but Abraham was able to spin out and throw solid shots of his own but not enough to win the round

Round 10 Abraham came out more aggressively and landed more solid shots; Dirrell was caught by a shot and went down but the ref called it a slip. Abraham had his best round. The reply showed the ref made a bad call because it was a punch landed that caused Dirrell to go down.

Round 11 Dirrell landed a solid body shot; Dirrell was backed into a corner when he slipped and went to his knee, Abraham was standing over Dirrell and threw a big right hand to Dirrell’s head while he was down. Abraham was disqualified; Dirrell wins by way of disqualification.

After the fight Jim Grey interviewed Arthur Abraham and asked him about the punch he threw while Dirrell was down. To his discredit Abraham said he couldn’t see that Dirrell was down when he threw the punch. The replay showed that it was clearly a foul and the disqualification was justified.