By William Mackay: At today’s weigh-in, American Andre Dirrell (18-1, 13 KO’s) came in a half pound under the super middleweight limit at 167.5 for his Super Six stage 2 bout this Saturday against undefeated former IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (31-0, 25 KO’s) at the Joe Louis Arena, in Detroit, Michigan. Abraham, for his part, weighed in exactly at the limit, coming in at 168. Dirrell, 26, is coming off a disappointing loss in his first fight of the Super Six competition to Car Froch last October.

The fight was very close and filled with fouls, clinching and a lot of movement. Froch did a lot of the fouling, whereas Dirrell did a lot of the clinching and moving. If this wasn’t a tournament fight, there would have likely been a huge cry for a rematch between Dirrell and Froch. As things are, the fighters have to move forward into scheduled fights.

However, Dirrell and Froch could meet again in the future if both fighters win their fights and progress towards the finals. Abraham, 30, is much more solidly build compared to the tall, slender Dirrell. Abraham has one-punch knockout power, and seems to have become a much bigger puncher as he’s matured compared to the way he used to punch several years ago.

Abraham isn’t nearly as fast or as good of a mover as Dirrell. His training team has put together a plan to try and neutralize Dirrell’s blazing speed. The plan likely will likely have Abraham putting a lot of pressure on Dirrell by trying to back him up, cut off the ring and force him to fight against the ropes. At the center of the ring, Abraham figures to have little chance to compete with the much quicker Dirrell.

The only way that Abraham can win this fight is if he can trap Dirrell against the ropes and land shots before Dirrell is able to escape. Abraham might also try to rough Dirrell up to gain an advantage. Froch was able to get away with roughing Dirrell up in his fight with him.

However, Froch was also lucky that the referee appeared to be taking a passive role in the fright, allowing Froch to do a number of things such as body slamming Dirrell, holding and hitting, throwing rabbit punches and putting Dirrell in head locks. Although anything is possible for Saturday, it’s not likely that Abraham will be able to get away with quite as many things that Froch was against Dirrell.

Below are other weights for bouts on the card:

Dominik Britsch 158.5, Matt Berkshire 158.5
Ronald Hearns 158.25, Marteze Logan 157.75
Vernon Paris 140, Oscar Leon 144.75
Darryl Cunningham 166, Pat Coleman 165