By Scott Gilfoid: Super middleweight talent Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KO’s) returns to the ring next month on December 30th against a still to be determined opponent. The fight will reportedly be televised on Showtime with Jermain Taylor making his comeback fight on the same card.

This is obviously going to be a big night of boxing due to Dirrell and Taylor both being action. Dirrell, 28, hasn’t fought since suffering a head injury last year when he was fouled by Arthur Abraham in the Super Six tournament last year in March. Dirrell has been out of action all this time healing up. He could have returned a lot sooner, however, but was waiting for the right TV date before he fought. He didn’t just want to fight without being seen by big national audience.

You can still consider Dirrell unbeaten because his only loss came against Carl Froch in October 2009 in a fight that took place in Froch’s home town of Nottingham, England. Froch won a 12 round split decision, but many boxing fans saw Dirrell winning the fight by a wide margin. I personally scored the fight 8 rounds to 3 with 1 even for Dirrell. At the very least, I think Dirrell should have won by a disqualification due to all the fouling that Froch was doing in the fight. I’ve never seen a fight with so many fouls and no penalizations going on, other than a point being taken away from Dirrell for a clinch.

Dirrell is only a couple of fights away from a title shot. He just needs to stay busy and he’ll soon be in the running for a shot against one of the champions. He wants to fight IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute or a rematch against Froch. However, Dirrell might have to settle for a fight against Bute, because there won’t be any point in fighting Froch again once he gets beaten by WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward next month. Dirrell won’t want to get sloppy seconds.