By Eric Hernandez: The atmosphere was electric at Joe Louis Arena. It was the home coming out party for Andre Dirrell and he would not disappoint. It was a classic match up of boxer vs puncher, American vs European. From the very beginning Andre Dirrel 19-1 asserted himself and boxed masterfully while Aurthur Abraham played defense while waiting for his opportunity.

By the the fourth round it was obvious that this was going to be Dirrell night and when he manage to floor Abraham with about 30 seconds left in the fourth round it became more apparent that this was not going to be Abraham night. By the 7th round Dirrel had open a cut over the right eye and Abraham was a bloody mess and was growing more and more frustrated as he resulted in some rough tactics including a few rabbit punches.

In the 10th round it appeared that Abraham had floored Dirrel but it was ruled a slip by the referee but before the Abraham apologist begin to scream “foul” it appeared earlier in the fight that Abraham was saved by the ropes and that could have easily been ruled a knock down.

Round 11 began with Abraham knowing he needed a knock out and he began to put the pressure on Dirrell and it seemed that he had him cornered when Dirrell slipped on the wet logos on the floor, with one knee on the floor and obviously down Abraham frustration bubbled to the surface and he nailed Dirrell flush across the jaw. Dirrell went down after a delay reaction but it was obvious that he was hurt and not going to be able to continue.

For his actions Abraham was quickly disqualified and rightfully so. More appalling was his reaction after the fight as he showed no remorse for his actions, even claiming that Dirrell was a great actor. The real actor was Abraham who with a straight face told everyone that he had no idea that Andre Dirrel was on the canvas and defenseless even as he looked at the replay he was incredulous. By the time the DQ came Dirrel was comfortably ahead on all 3 scorecards. As for Abraham he lost his first fight and in the process he might have lost his credibility if not his invincibility.