(Photo credit: Suzanne Teresa/Premier Boxing Champions) By Allan Fox: There are a lot of people who don’t know who to pick between Andre Dirrell (24-1, 16 KOs) and James DeGale (20-1, 14 KOs) in their big fight today in Boston. One person who appears to have a good idea who will win the fight is top #1 WBC contender George Groves, who believes that DeGale has a good chance of winning the fight.
Groves believes that the winner of the fight will be the guy that stays calm, and jumps out ahead first. He feels that whoever gets momentum in their favor early in the fight will be the one that wins.
The guy with the faster hands and the better movement is Dirrell. DeGale will need to try and overcome all that for him to gain the advantage. DeGale won’t have the crowd in his favor like he normally does because the fight is taking place in the United States, not the UK. This means that DeGale won’t be cheered loudly each time he throws a punch in this fight like he normally is when fighting at home. DeGale will need to get used to not hearing the cheers whenever he does something good in the fight.
“It’s whoever holds their composure, the best will go on to win the fight,” Groves told ESPN.co.uk. “Whoever starts well could dictate and decide the outcome. If one of them can get in their groove it could prove the difference. He’s [DeGale] got a great chance and he will be up for it.”
It’s possible that one of these fighters will start off well, but then struggle as the fight goes on. It might not be DeGale starts off well in this fight. Dirrell’s speed and defensive ability will make it tough on DeGale to land his wide shots.
Dirrell throws a lot of straight punches and he doesn’t get hit a lot unless he’s standing square to his opponents throwing flurries. If Dirrell gets DeGale in that position it won’t be a good thing for DeGale. It’ll mean that Dirrell feels comfortable enough to let his hands go in a major way. Dirrell has been doing that a lot lately due to the low quality of his opposition. His last opponent Derek Edwards had good power, but he was slow and short at only 5’9”. He didn’t have the size or speed to keep Dirrell honest.
“James can do the business out there against Dirrell,” Groves said.
Both of these guys are capable of doing the business out there. We’re going to find out which is the better guy today. The winner of the DeGale vs. Dirrell fight will move on to bigger fights in the future. Groves has a fight against WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack this summer, and he’s already expressed interest in facing DeGale in a unification fight if he beats Dirrell. Groves didn’t say anything about wanting to fight Dirrell if he wins. It might not be a big enough fight for Groves to want to fight Dirrell. It’s one that could only be made if it were staged in the United States though because Dirrell has made it clear that he doesn’t want to fight in the UK again after the bad experience he had fighting Carl Froch in Nottingham in 2009.
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