By Scott Gilfoid: In looking at the September 25th Super Six match-up between the ultra talented American duo of Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KO’s) vs. unbeaten World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight champion Andre Ward (22-0, 13 KO’s), it reminds me a lot of the 1993 bout between the prime Roy Jones Jr. vs. Bernard Hopkins for the then vacant IBF middleweight title. Jones, who is very similar to the hand speed and fighting style of the young Dirrell, ended up beating a constant pressuring Hopkins by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 116-112.
Hopkins pressured Jones all fight long, trying to get in close and smother him with his superior inside fighting ability. But Jones was able to keep the fight on the outside just enough to take advantage of his faster hands and get the better of Hopkins to get the win. Back then, both Hopkins and Jones were in their 20s and at the top of their game. That fight and the styles of those two fighters reminds me a lot of the talented Dirrell and Ward for their upcoming stage 3 Super Six bout in September.
The only real difference I can see is that Ward has better hand speed than Hopkins did back then, and seems to be a better fighter on the outside than Hopkins was back then. However, at the same time, Dirrell appears to better defensively than Jones Jr. was and may be able to neutralize Ward’s shots on the outside. This fight come down to whether or not Ward is able to impose his will and make Dirrell fight on the inside where he’s a lot less capable. Like a young Roy Jones Jr., Dirrell isn’t nearly as comfortable when fighting on the inside or when backed against the ropes, so he must stay away from getting trapped in an inside game by Ward for any length of time.
If Dirrell can keep the fight on the outside, then he will have an excellent chance at winning the fight. It won’t be easy, because Ward is able to close the distance quite fast within a fraction of a second. It will be up to Dirrell to use his feet and his counter punching ability to keep Ward from mugging him on the inside. Ward has a habit of throwing a long telegraphed right hand while in the process of coming in on his opponents. He seems to do this every time he’s about to charge in and start fighting on the inside.
Dirrell has to duck the right and then move laterally to avoid the frontal charge from Ward. It’s something that Dirrell has to do because he can’t let Ward get on him and start wrestling and shoving him to the ropes like he did against his last opponent Allan Green last June. Ward bullied Green in that fight and kept him pinned with his back against the ropes for extended periods of time in the fight.
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