Dirrell to take care of Cunningham, then move onto bigger things in the new year

By Boxing News - 12/24/2011 - Comments

Image: Dirrell to take care of Cunningham, then move onto bigger things in the new yearBy Scott Gilfoid: Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KO’s) marches into his fight on December 31st buoyed with confidence in knowing that he’s about to accomplish big things in 2012. But first off, Dirrell must take care of his tune-up opponent Darryl Cunningham (24-2, 10 KO’s) in their Showtime televised fight.

This is a very important fight for the young 28-year-old Dirrell, because he needs to win and send a message to the other top super middleweights that he’s back and ready to take names and kick some backside. Ideally, I would love for Dirrell to make quick work of Cunningham and then immediately call out Carl Froch to put him on the hot seat to see if he’s up for a rematch.

You know what the answer will be without me having to tell you. No way will Froch want any part of Dirrell again, not after the impressive performance that Dirrell put on against Froch two years ago when Dirrell made Froch hit air with his shots half of the fight. Froch could only land when he started to hit & hold. But that’s a rematch that Dirrell needs and wants. But unfortunately it’s pretty much unattainable.

Instead, Dirrell needs to face the best opponents he can get and try to angle himself in for a fight against either Andre Ward or the winner of the Robert Stieglitz vs. Mikkel Kessler fight. It’s probably going to be the same thing with neither of those guys wanting any art of Dirrell, because of his fast hands and excellent defensive skills. Dirrell is like a big version of Floyd Mayweather Jr., and that causes fighters not to want to fight him because he makes them look really bad.

Dirrell needs to put the power on display for the Cunningham fight, because you don’t want to leave a clever fighter like Cunningham in there too long or he could end up getting his confidence up trying to pull an upset.



Comments are closed.