(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Scott Gilfoid: In a foul-plagued fight where the referee pretty much backed off with a Laissez-faire type of approach to controlling the action, WBC super middleweight champion Sakio Bika (32-5-3, 21 KO’s) was able to keep his title by fighting to a 12 round draw against the talented Anthony Dirrell (26-0-1, 22 KO’s) last night at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York.
Dirrell landed the cleaner and harder shots throughout the fight. But most importantly, Dirrell fought a good, clean fight and he deserved to have his hand raised at the end, but two of the judges saw it differently with one of them scoring it 114-112 for Bika and the other 113-113 even.
The judge that seemed to have his eyes open in watching the fight scored it 116-110 for Dirrell. I think that was a fair score and a good indication of what happened in the fight. Dirrell knocked Bika down with a right hand that would have knocked out any other fighter in the division, but Bika got back up and the fight then dissolved into a fouling nightmare.
Dirrell, 29, was so upset after the scores were announced after the fight that he dashed out of the ring without giving a post-fight interview. He later said to Showtime’s Jim Gray “He [Bika] hit low and head-butted. I definitely want a rematch. I want to apologize to the fans for leaving the ring like that, but I was just disappointed.”
It’s perfectly understandable that Dirrell left the ring without giving an interview. With all the fouling that Bika was able to get away with in this fight, I would left the ring myself out of protest at what had happened in the ring. I’ve never seen a fighter get away with as much fouling as Bika; never. Here’s just a little taste of the fouls that Bika committed last night: Hitting Dirrell twice while he was on the canvas, head-butting, rabbit punches, forcing Dirrell down by shoving him over the ropes and constant low blows. The fact that Bika lost only one point in the fight was so, so sad. I thought Bika should have been disqualified by the 9th round, and yet he was able to continue to fight and rough up Dirrell for the entire fight.
I know Dirrell wants the rematch against Bika to prove that he’s the better guy, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Bika says he wants to move on rather than fighting Dirrell again. Bika said “Now I just want to fight the best ahead of me.”
Bika will likely take an optional title defense next while contenders James DeGale faces Marco Antonio Periban in an eliminator. If Bika could get a fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., then I think that would be the fight he would likely take next, but it’s doubtful that Chavez Jr. will be fighting Bika anytime soon, because he’s scheduled to fight a rematch against Brian Vera in early 2014.
I’d like to see what Anthony’s older brother Andre Dirrell would do to Bika if he could get that fight. I think Andre would totally clown Bika for 12 rounds, and win an easy decision. Andre wouldn’t make the same mistakes that Anthony did by letting Bika force him to the ropes and fighting him with his back against the ropes. Andre would keep the action at the center of the ring at all times, and fight on the outside instead of fighting Bika’s fight by getting in close and letting Bika have opportunities to land his punches. This would be a perfect revenge of the brother type of fight, and I think Andre Dirrell would sweep Bika by a lopsided decision in an excellent comeback fight for Andre. Revenge would be sweet for the Dirrell brothers.
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