By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn came up short in a purse bid this week in losing out to Warriors Boxing for the James DeGale (20-1, 14 KOs) vs. Andre Dirrell (24-1, 16 KOs) fight. By Hearn losing the purse bid, it means that his fighter DeGale, 29, will need to travel to the United States next month to fight the fast and powerful Dirrell on his own home soil.
The fight is being pegged for April 24th, possibly in Chicago in Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions league.
Despite Hearn losing the purse bid, he still feels that DeGale will be able to beat Dirrell in America. He thinks DeGale will rise to the occasion the way that Hean’s fighters Kell Brook did in beating Shawn Porter last year by a clinch-filled 12 round decision, and how Darren Barker defeated Australian Daniel Geale by a 12 round decision in August 2013.
“We’ve seen Kell Brook go to America and beat Shawn Porter, we’ve seen Darren Barker travel to America and beat Daniel Geale,” Hearn said via Skysports.com. “If you are good enough, you will win and it’s a very interesting fight between two very good 168-pounders.”
Hearn is right about a fighter being able to win in the U.S if they’re good enough. But on the flipside, if they’re not good enough, then there’s nothing that can be done for them by traveling to the U.S. I mean, DeGale isn’t likely going to be able to win a controversial decision over Dirrell in the U.S in a fight that he appeared to lose.
It’s not realistic to count on the judges giving DeGale the decision if he gets totally outclassed by Dirrell. That’s just not going to happen. If DeGale wants a win over Dirrell, he’s going to have to beat him to the point where the judges have no questions in their minds who the better fighter is between them.
Hearn’s examples are going of poor ones. Geale isn’t an American, so it really wasn’t a big deal that Barker was able to beat him in America. They were both foreign fighters. As for the Brook-Porter fight, Brook clinched constantly in winning that fight, and some boxing fans had Brook losing that fight. But the fight did prove that the judges would give it to the visiting fighter rather than the home fighter. The fight did prove that much.
“James DeGale has got the bit between his teeth, though, he fancies this. There’s something about travelling to America and picking up the glory out there,” Hearn said. “I think James DeGale will do the business.”
I don’t see DeGale winning this fight against Dirrell, or even coming close to winning it. I’m basing this on how well the fighters have looked in their recent fights. DeGale has looked slow and flat-footed in his wins over Marco Antonio Periban, Brandon Gonzales, and Gevorg Khatchikian.
In contrast, Dirrell looked very good in his wins over Derek Edwards, Nick Brinson and Vladine Biosse. The difference between Dirrell and DeGale was pretty noticeable. DeGale beat some close guys with marginal talent, whereas DeGale defeated a couple of big punchers in Edwards and Brinson.
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