Photo credit: Casino/SHOWTIME – By Scott Gilfoid: With Anthony Dirrell (24-0, 21 Ko’s) ranked #1 WBC, #2 WBC in the super middleweight division and his talented brother Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KO’s) resuming his career tonight in a fight against Darryl Cunningham (24-2, 10 KO’s) in Cabazon, California, the Dirrell brothers are on the cusp of becoming a one-two punch in the super middleweight division.

Andre may not be ranked high at the moment due to his long time away from the ring due to an injury, but he’s going to be quickly back at the top of the division in two or three more fights and will be ready to fight for a title. Andre Dirrell sees him and his brother Anthony as the Klitschkos of the super middleweight division, saying “If he’s winning belts and I’m winning belts then it’s all good and we’ll be like another Klitschko.”

Andre is right. Once the Dirrell brothers knock off the two weaker of the super middleweight champions – Robert Stieglitz and Lucian Bute – they will have two of the four titles in their possession. The only belts that will remain will be the WBA and WBC, which are both in the possession of champion Andre Ward at the moment. That’ll be a tough nut to crack for the Dirrell brothers to get those belts, but I think Anthony is ready to do that fight now with his power, speed, patience and excellent inside fighting ability.

Anthony Dirrell has what all of Ward’s Super Six tournament opponents were lacking in and that’s major talent in multiple areas. Ward will have serious problems against Anthony because he’s not just limited to outside fighting. He likes to fight on the inside where he is deadly with his body shots and short power punches to the head. I rate Anthony as a much bigger puncher than Ward, and he’s also just as fast.

The only thing that Anthony doesn’t do is wrestle like Ward, but really you’re not supposed to be wrestling. However, wrestling wouldn’t be enough for Ward to beat Anthony and I could see a major upset in this fight. Once Ward is out of the way, it’s very possible the Dirrell brothers will sweep the remaining titles up without too many problems. The hardest part in winning the titles is for the Dirrell brothers to get the champions to fight them in the first place.

I can see Stieglitz, Kessler or Lucian Bute being dragged kicking and screaming into fights against the Dirrell brothers. Stieglitz, who will hopefully be losing his WBO title to Kessler in April, has been milking title since he captured it in 2009. And Bute has been on a three-year milking job since 2008. I can’t see those guys voluntarily fighting either of the Dirrell brothers without one of the sanctioning bodies forcing the matter.