Bika vs. Dirrell 2 in the works for August 16th

By Boxing News - 06/29/2014 - Comments

dirrell4(Photo credit: Showtime Boxing) By Scott Gilfoid: A rematch between WBC super middleweight champion Sakio Bika (32-5-3, 21 KO’s) and #5 WBC, #7 WBO Anthony Dirrell (26-0-1, 22 KO’s) is in the works for August 16th, along with former WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-2, 14 KOs) facing Daniel Dawson (40-3-1, 26 KO’s) for possibly the WBA 154 pound interim belt. There’s isn’t a venue yet, but it’s likely that the card will take place in New York.

Bika, 35, and Dirrell fought last December at the Barlcays Center in Brooklyn, New York, with the fight being ruled a 12 round draw. The judges scored it 114-112 for Bika, and 116-110 for Dirrell, and 114-114 even. Dirrell knocked Bika down in the 5th round after tagging him with a beautiful right hand to the head, and flurrying on him with massive head shots. Bika got back up and survived the round just barely.

Where the controversy came in for this fight was that Bika didn’t have points taken off for the low blows, head-butts and rabbit punches he threw. The referee failed to keep the fight under control in terms of the fouling that went on, and Dirrell wasn’t pleased about it after the fight, as he stormed out of the ring immediately after the decision was announced.

“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,” Dirrell said after the fight.

Dirrell dominated most of the exchanges in the early part of the fight, but then he let his foot off the accelerator in the last half of the fight, letting Bika to creep back into the fight. Dirrell, 29, should have easily won the fight if he’d just let his hands go a little more, but he fought like he was nursing a huge insurmountable lead instead of having the type of lead where he needed to continue to fight hard.

“This time I can’t give him a chance,” said Bika.

Dirrell should win this fight with ease as long as he lets his hands go, and doesn’t stop throwing punches and fighting defensively like he did last time. It looked like Dirrell might have gassed out after failing to knock Bika out in the 5th round, because by the way he fought, Dirrell seemed like he had little left in the tank from the 6th round on. I still gave him 3 of the last 6 remaining rounds of the fight, including the first 5 rounds, but two of the judges saw it differently.

There’s no word about when Anthony’s talented brother Andre Dirrell will be returning to the ring. Dirrell dominated Carl Froch in the Super Six tournament in losing a controversial decision. He also beat Arthur Abraham in an impressive performance that opened up a lot of eyes in the boxing world. Had Andre kept busy with his career following the Super Six tournament, he’d likely be one of the super middleweight champions, and have fought Froch again. I believe Froch would have given Dirrell a rematch by now due to the huge interest their fight attracted in Nottingham.



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