By Scott Gilfoid: Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KO’s) was forced to pull out of the Super Six tournament last year after being horribly fouled Arthur Abraham last March. Dirrell was on the brink of fame at the time he chose to pull out of the tournament.

But now after a little more than a year off Dirrell is eying fights against IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute and WBC Diamond middleweight champion Sergio Martinez. Dirrell is interested in fighting both, but will likely only get a crack at one of them. But that’s all it will take for him to show his stuff.

Dirrell said this to esnewsreporting.com: “I would love to fight Sergio Martinez, but not at 160. If he goes down, he can come up. He’s big. I was face to face with him one time. If people think I run, I’m going to show a good boxing stye. Let Sergio Martinez get in there with me and we can find out. Either way it goes, if it’s Bute or Sergio Martinez, whoever it is, I’m ready to get in there and get this row started. When I’m back you’ll know.”

I would favor Dirrell over both Bute and Martinez. Those guys are made for a blazing boxer-puncher like Dirrell, who would have them hitting air all night long. Martinez loads up too much with his shots and wouldn’t be able to land against Dirrell. And Bute, with his over-reliance on throwing telegraphed uppercuts, he’d be dominated by Dirrell and embarrassed.

Martinez would have to overcome his fear of fighting a super middleweight for a Dirrell-Martinez fight to take place. You can’t expect Dirrell to have to trim off 8 pounds to fight a fight happen against the smaller Martinez. It won’t go like that. If Martinez wants the fight, which I have my doubts, then let him put on a little extra weight to make the fight.