Andre Dirrell vs. Rowland Bryant possible for March

By Boxing News - 02/03/2013 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: Super middleweight Andre Dirrell (21-1, 14 KO’s) plans on returning to action next month in March against possibly #14 IBF Rowland Bryant (16-2, 11 KO’s) after Dirrell totally dominated a tough but limited Michael Gbenga (14-7, 14 KO’s) last night in a 10 round unanimous decision victory at the Convention Center in McAllen, Texas.

Dirrell easily won ever round of the fight, and put Gbenga down in the 9th round with a nice right hand. The judges scored the fight 100-87, 100-87, and 100-88.

Dirrell wanted to finish Gbenga off in the 9th, but he showed a good chin by taking Dirrell’s blistering shots without hitting the deck again. For a fighter that hadn’t fought in 13 months, Dirrell fought remarkably well, better than any of the top super middleweights in the division save for Andre Ward.

Bryant previously destroyed super middleweight contender Librado Andrade by a 3rd round stoppage last year in April in an impressive performance. Bryant kind of reminds me IBF junior middleweight champion Cornelius Bundrage. He punches with the same kind of power, and he’s top heavy like Bundrage.

A win over Bryant will be a nice win to get Dirrell ranked in the top 15 so that he can make a move towards one of the titles. Dirrell lost his ranking due to his year-long inactivity following his previous win over Darryl Cunningham in December 2011. Dirrell has got his life together and he’s ready to go after a title this year.

Dirrell wants to fight every two months so that he can get ranked enough to be on the doorsteps of a world title shot at the start of 2014. There’s also an outside chance that one of the super middleweight champions could pick Dirrell out among the contenders in the 168 pound division and give him a title shot straightaway. I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen because Dirrell has a history of making his opponents look bad, and champions don’t like to look bad when they’re defending their titles.



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