By Scott Gilfoid: A date still hasn’t been decided yet for the James DeGale (20-1, 14 KOs) vs. Andre Dirrell (24-1, 16 KOs). The two fighters will be battling it out for the vacant IBF super middleweight title at some point in the near future. It’s possible that the fight could take place in May sometime, and DeGale is hoping that the fight will be place on the May 2nd undercard fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
If the DeGale-Dirrell fight winds up that card it’ll give both Dirrell and DeGale a great opportunity to get a ton of exposure.
Of course, if the loser of that fight fails to distinguish himself in front of the millions of boxing fans that will be watching it, then it’s going to be a real negative for them.
“There’s a little chance it could be on the Mayweather-Pacquiao undercard in Las Vegas on May 2. I would love that obviously but I doubt it,” DeGale said via espn.co.uk. “I think they would’ve announced it if it was.”
Well, if you look at the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao card, it’s still being developed, but yeah, it’s not likely the fight will wind up on the card due to the televised portion of the undercard having limited options as far as showing different fights. Mayweather Promotions gets one fight involving their guys, and Top Rank gets a fight involving some of their fighters.
Dirrell and DeGale will get a lot of attention for their fight anyways due to the fight being televised on NBC. It’s going to be seen by millions on free television in America, and that’s better than it were to be televised on HBO or Showtime. Of course, it’s not better than if it were to get included on the Mayweather-Pacquiao card, but I don’t think it will.
DeGale’s promoter Eddie Hearn wanted the DeGale vs. Dirrell fight to take place on April 25th in London, but the fact that Warriors Promotions won the recent DeGale-Dirrell purse bid sunk the chances of a London fight between them. DeGale thinks that Dirrell’s people are afraid, and that’s why they won the purse bid.
DeGale doesn’t say what Dirrell’s people are afraid of though. Could it be that Dirrell and his management are afraid of being robbed in the UK? Dirrell did fight UK fighter Carl Froch in the UK six years ago in Froch’s hometown of Nottingham. Dirrell fought well enough to deserve a win, but two of the judges gave the fight to Froch by a 12 round split decision.
“I thought he [Dirrell] beat Carl Froch when he fought him…maybe that put him [Dirrell] off coming here again, so I’ve got Carl to thank again for having to go out there [United States]. Them winning the purse bid has proved how much he’s [Dirrell] worried about me and a lot of good fighters from Britain have gone over to America and won world titles.”
I think it’s fairly obvious that Dirrell’s management won the purse bid in order to avoid having to put their fighter in a position where he might need a knockout to win the fight. You can make an argument that the judges are sometimes influenced by the cheering for the home fighter.
If they hear cheering for every miss from a home fighter, it could influence their scoring of the fight. This is why the judges should be put in sound proof booths in order for them not to be able to hear the crowd noise.
The last thing they need is to have Dirrell’s career derailed due to another controversial loss in the UK. Dirrell’s loss to Froch in 2009 kept him from being named the WBC World super middleweight champion. There was no second chance for Dirrell, even though the fight screamed out for a rematch.
Froch never gave Dirrell a rematch. That’s why it’s very important that Dirrell’s management won the purse bid in order to keep Dirrell from having to go out and score a knockout in order to ensure that he gets the win. I mean, I’m sure Dirrell’s people feel the judges and referee would be fair if the fight were to take place in the UK. I’m sure they feel that the referee would call fouls if Dirrell were hit with rabbit punches all night long and body slammed on the canvas. Obviously that didn’t happen last time Dirrell fought in the UK in 2009 though. There were no points taken off.
“If they come back and say the date is in a couple of weeks, I will be ready,” DeGale said. “I’m not going to put a date yet, but I think they have to let me know by next Tuesday.”
DeGale has been training hard for weeks for this fight, and he feels he’ll be ready even if they announce the fight will be taking place in April.
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