Andre Dirrell wants DeGale after Caparello fight

By Boxing News - 04/28/2016 - Comments

dirrell55665By Scott Gilfoid: #5 IBF, #5 WBC Andre Dirrell (24-2, 16 KOs) has to take care of business on Friday night with his 10 round fight against Blake Caparello (22-1-1, 6 KOs) on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox from the Trump Taj Mahal, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Dirrell, 32, plans on beating Caparello and then going on to avenge his loss to IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale after that. Dirrell lost to DeGale last year by a close 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 114-112, 117-109 and 114-112.

The loss didn’t sit so well with Dirrell, as he wants to get DeGale back into the ring to prove who the better fighter is. Dirrell doesn’t care if he has to travel to the UK to make the fight happen. He wants that fight.

“I feel I am at the championship level. I’ll have an eye on the 168-pound title fights Saturday,” said Dirrell. “I’m looking to get that championship as soon as I can. I am ready and I want DeGale. I don’t care if it’s in his hometown, backyard, basement, living room or kitchen. I want to make sure that fight happens.”

I don’t think DeGale is going to voluntarily give Dirrell a rematch because he’s too good and he barely got past him last time. DeGale has a title defense this Saturday night against his IBF mandatory Rogelio Medina at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. If DeGale wins that fight, then he’ll be fighting the winner of the fight between WBC champion Badou Jack and Lucian Bute later this year in their next fights.

The Jack-Bute fight is taking place on the ame card as the DeGale-Medina fight. Dirrell will likely need to wait until 2017 to get a shot at a rematch against DeGale, and even then, it’s going to require that DeGale not get beaten before then and not move up to 175 like he’s been talking about.

YouTube video

It is understood that Dirrell will probably need to be DeGale’s IBF mandatory challenger before he gets the rematch against him. In other words, Dirrell’s chances of getting a rematch with DeGale in the future are basically slim and none. I don’t see it happening. The stars would have to align perfectly for that fight to take place. If I were Dirrell, I would forget all about DeGale and instead just look to improve in the areas that led to him losing that fight. IN other words, Dirrell needs work on his stamina and his defense.

Dirrell is ranked high with the IBF and WBC at 168, but he’s going to need take one of the top scalps from the likes of George Groves or Callum Smith to get the number one ranking. Those guys are all ranked ahead of him and they’re going to get their turns at a title shot before Dirrell. I think Dirrell might even end up having to wait until 2018 before he gets a world title shot, because there are too many fighters ahead of him in line for their title shots.