By Scott Gilfoid: Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KO’s) is in a tough predicament going into his stage 3 Super Six tournament fight against WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KO’s) on September 25th at a still to be determined location. Dirrell, 26, absolutely must win in order to make it to the semifinals. A loss will mean that Dirrell, one of the most talented fighters in the Super Six tournament, will go home a loser and unable to compete anymore in the tourney.
This is mainly because of Dirrell’s questionable 12 round split decision loss to then WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch back in October 2009. Despite working his backside off by making Froch look bad through 12 rounds, Dirrell ended up losing the fight to Froch in Carl’s home city of Nottingham, England. Dirrell must now beat Ward just to get to the semifinals.
This will be extremely hard to do because Ward has been fighting so well. I can’t see Ward beating Dirrell, but at the same time I can’t see Dirrell beating Ward. This is a fight that I think will end up as a 12 round draw. Unfortunately, Dirrell needs more than a draw for him to make it to the next level. He has to win. There are no ifs or buts about it.
Dirrell either wins or he ends up being eliminated from the Super Six tourney. What Dirrell has to do is try to find a way to keep from being forced into an inside game by Ward, because that’s what he’s been doing recently with wins over Mikkel Kessler and Allan Green.
Dirrell has to stay away from getting into one of those energy draining inside wars and try to stay above the fray by jabbing from the outside. Once the fight goes to the outside, there is no real advantage between them. Both Dirrell and Ward are pretty much even on the outside. Dirrell has the faster hands, the better jab but Ward is able to make up for that by being more aggressive.
If Dirrell was as aggressive as Ward, he’d be almost unbeatable. Let’s put it this way – it would take a very special fighter to beat Dirrell is he fought with as much aggressiveness and decisiveness as Ward. But the good thing is that Dirrell can learn to be more like Ward and can be a much better fighter because of this. I see their next fight together as a learning experience for both Dirrell and Ward. They’re going to be both better fighters after this bout is over, because each of them is so evenly matched.
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