By Scott Gilfoid: Dan Rafael is reporting that Andre Dirrell (21-1, 14 KO’s) has pulled out of his April 12th fight against Ossie Duran (28-10-2, 11 KO’s) on the ESPN2 telecast. Now let’s not rush to judgment. I’m sure Dirrell has a perfectly good excuse for pulling out of the fight. It might be an injury, it could be a management thing with SMS Promotions or they could simply be looking to put Dirrell in with a better known opponent around the same time.
Dirrell wouldn’t be pulling out of the fight card if it wasn’t for a good reason because that’s not the way the guy is. He’s a total professional.
It would be interesting if Eddie Hearn from Matchroom Sport were to have signed Dirrell to fight his guy George Groves a month later on the May 25th Carl Froch vs. Mikkel Kessler card in London, UK. Would Hearn do that? Nah, are you kidding? He wouldn’t put Dirrell within 1000 miles of the green Groves because the outcome would be too obvious.
Dirrell already sparred with Groves not long ago, and he said he had to take it easy on him because he noted that Groves didn’t know how to move his head and was too easy to hit. Dirrell just toyed with him during the sparring session.
Dirrell will be fighting soon regardless of him pulling out of the Duran fight. He’s got to stay so that he can get a title shot by the end of 2013 or early 2014. He wants Frochs’ IBF belt, and the only way Dirrell can get that strap is to fight frequently so that he can get pushed up the rankings quickly. I don’t see Froch giving him a rematch, but at least the IBF can strip Froch if he fails to fight Dirrell. However, it’ll likely be Kessler as the strap holder if and when he gets past Froch in May. It’s anyone’s guess what Kessler will do with the IBF strap. I see him giving it up rather than defending it against Dirrell.
Comments are closed.