By Jason Kim: Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KO’s) is facing what probably is going to be his toughest fight of the Super Six tournament when he goes against fellow American World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight champion Andre Ward (22-0, 13 KO’s) in their Super Six tournament fight on September 25th. This will be the last stage of the stage bouts, and the 26-year-old Dirrell absolutely needs this win to get to the semifinals of the Super Six tournament.
For his part, Ward doesn’t need to win to get to the semifinals; he’s already in by virtue of his two previous wins in the tourney against Mikkel Kessler and Allan Green. Ward has four points and has the luxury of not needing a win to get the next level of the tourney.
However, Ward has already said that his first priority is to hold onto his WBA super middleweight title and he doesn’t intend on slacking off and letting Dirrell take his title. Dirrell, for his part, already lost one of his bouts in the Super Six tournament against Britain’s Carl Froch while fighting in Froch’s home city of Nottingham, England.
Dirrell won his second of the tournament against Arthur Abraham, beating him by an 11 round disqualification. Abraham is probably the hardest puncher in the Super Six tourney. However, Dirrell did an excellent job of neutralizing Abraham’s power advantage by boxing him from the outside, using a hard jab and moving constantly.
Abraham was coming on at the end of the fight and had Dirrell looking a little stressed from the heat that he was putting on him. However, Abraham gave the fight away in the 11th by hitting Dirrell when he slipped on the canvas. The fight was then stopped and Dirrell was given the win by an 11th round disqualification.
Beating a slow mover and an economical puncher like Abraham was an impressive accomplishment for Dirrell, to be sure. But Dirrell is going to need to make a number of adjustments if he’s to have any hope of beating Ward. This is a lot tougher opponent because Ward can fight incredibly well both on the outside, where he likes to use a powerful jab and fast shots to dominate.
Ward can also come inside on his opponents to dominate at close range. Once Ward is inside, he’s hard to move. Dirrell has to not stay on the ropes and he can’t just stay there trying to fight Ward in close, because Ward is he better inside fighter compared to him.
Dirrell needs to be first by landing shots before Ward is ready to throw his own shots. Ward is a lot less effective when his opponents are throwing shots at him. He tends to try and move and counter when he’s facing incoming shots. He’s still dangerous because of his counter punching ability, but he’s easier to manage that way than when he’s dictating the action.
Dirrell is sometimes passive. He can’t be that way if he wants to beat Ward. He has to be first, and has to take the fight to him at all times and make Ward move and keep him in the counter punching role instead of on offense.
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