By Scott Gilfoid: Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KO’s) has a tough task ahead of him going into his fight against unbeaten World Boxing Association super middleweight champion Andre Ward (22-0, 13 KO’s) in their stage 3 Super Six tournament fight on September 25th at a still to be determined venue. Direll, 26, has been beaten once already in the tournament, albeit a controversial 12 round split decision loss to Carl Froch last year in October.

Dirrell looked really green in that fight, like he wasn’t yet ready mentally to be challenging for a title. To Dirrell’s credit, his incredible athletic ability enabled him to make up for his lack of experience and fight well enough to get the win, even though two of the European judges ended up giving the decision to Froch. Dirrell has improved since that fight and looked much more confident in beating Arthur Abraham by an 11th round disqualification victory last March in Detroit, Michigan.

Dirrell showed a lot of poise in beating the much more experienced Abraham and seemed to be in a good position in the 11th finish out the fight until Abraham fouled Dirrell after he slipped on the canvas. The outcome was less important than how much improvement that Dirrell showed in the fight. He looked 100% more at ease and confident compared to the Froch fight. Dirrell wasn’t just winning on athletic talent alone in the Abraham fight. He was actually planning and setting Abraham up for shots in that fight.

Ward is whole different ballgame compared to the Froch and Abraham fights. First of all, Ward is much more talented than those two fighters. He’s also a lot quicker with his hands. Ward’s blazing hand speed was a big factor in his Super Six tourney wins over Mikkel Kessler and Allan Green. I can’t stress enough how much of a factor Ward’s hand speed was in getting those two wins.

But Dirrell has even faster hand speed than Ward, so he’s going to have to have another plan if he wants to be able to beat Dirrell. He won’t be able to do it with fast hands alone. He’s going to have to be able to try and mug Dirrell against the ropes. For that to happen, Ward is going to have to have some help from Dirrell, because he isn’t a fighter that’s going to be dumb enough to try and fight Ward in close. Dirrell is going to be using his feet to stay off the ropes and keep some space between him and Ward.

I don’t think Dirrell has to be perfect to beat Ward, but I do think he’s going to have to avoid the pitfalls that Ward’s other Super Six tourney opponents have fell into. Dirrell can’t stay on the ropes, and he can’t let Ward crowd him and work on the inside. If Dirrell just lets Ward shove him to the ropes and lean on him like he did against Green in his last fight in June, then Dirrell will lose the fight and probably lose badly.

I think this fight will come down to whoever is the better outside fighter instead of the inside guy. Dirrell won’t let Ward fight him on the inside and will move away every time Ward tries to mug him. It’s going to come down to whoever has the better jabs and faster hands from the outside. I can’t really say who that fighter will be, because both of them are so incredibly talented and clearly a level above the other Super Six contestants. This is a fight that really should be for the finals in the Super Six tournament, because it’s matching the two best fighters.