By Scott Gilfoid: A fight between #1 IBF super middleweight contender James DeGale (20-1, 14 KOs) and #2 IBF Andre Dirrell (24-1, 16 KOs) is being worked on for April 25th by DeGale’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport and Dirrell’s manager.
Hearn sees Dirrell as being the favorite in the fight. Hearn doesn’t say why he believes that, but it likely has to do with Dirrell’s superior hand speed, power, defense, mobility and experience. Dirrell is simply a better fighter from what I can see.
“DeGale-Dirrell is just a great fight in the elite of the super middleweight division,” Hearn said via IBL TV. “It’s a great fight because these are two very, very talented fighters it’s a tough one to call. Dirrell is probably the favorite, but DeGale is on fire at the moment,” Hearn said.
Hearn is wise to see Dirrell as the favorite in this fight, because it would be foolish for Hearn to see DeGale as the favorite given the way he fights and his lack of experience against quality opposition.
DeGale’s career took a big hit when he was exposed by George Groves in losing a 12 round majority decision to him in their fight in 2011. DeGale couldn’t handle the hand speed and mobility of Groves in that fight, which is why he lost. Since that fight, DeGale has picked up wins over Marco Antonio Periban, Dyah Davis, Brandon Gonzalez, Gevorg Khatchikian, Sebastian Demers, Stjepan Bozic, and a number of other less than spectacular fighters in the 168 pound division.
The wins over Gonzales, Davis and Periban have many boxing fans thinking that DeGale has improved as a fighter rather than a case of him beating some flawed fighters. This is why a lot of DeGale’s loyal fans think he’s going to beat Dirrell.
It’s going to be really tough on DeGale when he gets inside the ring with Dirrell, and he finds out the hard way how much better Dirrell is compared to the guys that DeGale has been feasting on recently.
It’s a much different story when you get in the ring with someone that can do everything that you can do with more talent. I see this as being a major problem for DeGale, because the shock of him being in with someone so much better than anyone he’s ever faced before, including as an amateur, is going to leave him likely unprepared for what he’s facing in the ring in the form of Dirrell.
Dirrell and DeGale will be fighting for the vacant IBF super middleweight title that was recently vacated by Carl Froch, who had been ordered by the International Boxing Federation to fight DeGale.
Since Froch didn’t value that fight, he chose to vacate his IBF title and let DeGale and Dirrell fight over the strap. Hearn didn’t fancy the DeGale-Dirrell fight, so he attempted to get George Groves to agree to a battle against DeGale for the IBF title with the hopes that if Groves agreed to the fight, Hearn would be able to get Dirrell to step aside so that the DeGale-Groves fight would go ahead. Groves chose not to take the fight with the purse split that Hearn offered him, which was a 50-50 split. Groves reportedly wanted a 65-35 split, and that’s not something that Hearn was willing to agree to.
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