By Scott Gilfoid: #2 IBF Andre Dirrell (24-1, 16 KOs) will have almost every advantage you can think of in his fight next month against #1 IBF James DeGale (20-1, 14 KOs) in their battle for the vacant IBF super middleweight title on May 23rd at the Agganis Arena, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
For boxing fans who may have forgotten, this is the IBF 168 pound strap that former IBF champion Carl Froch recently gave up after being ordered to face DeGale in a routine title defense.
So instead of Froch facing DeGale, it’ll be Dirrell who will be facing him for the IBF strap. This is supposedly a new and improved DeGale from the one that was beaten by George Groves four years ago in 2011, and almost beaten by Piotr Wilczewski and Hadillah Mohoumadi. Since those three poor performances, DeGale has looked good in his last seven bouts, albeit against guys that I feel were lesser fighters than Mohoumadi, Groves and Wilczewski.
I think DeGale is going to have a ton of problems with Dirrell’s amazing hand speed, power and overall boxing skills. DeGale has been fighting largely C-class opponents since he turned pro in 2009. But in facing Dirrell, DeGale is going to be going to the head of the class to face the very best but without any tune-up to get him ready for what he’s about to face on May 23rd. DeGale hasn’t faced anyone during his career that is remotely as talented as Dirrell, and he can’t bring in any sparring partners to prepare him for what he’s going to be facing in the ring on May 23rd. I mean, DeGale is an Olympic gold medalist and Dirrell a bronze medalist, but I see Dirrell as being the far better fighter than DeGale. Had DeGale competed with the same guys that Dirrell fought in the 2004 Olympics in facing the likes of Gennady Golovkin and Cuba’s Yordanis Despaigne, I think DeGale would have lost both of those fights and failed to medal. I just think DeGale’s medal in the 2008 Olympics doesn’t compare to Dirrell’s because of the guys that Dirrell was fighting during his competition.
Dirrell, 6’1”, pretty much has every advantage you can think of in the DeGale fight except for age. Dirrell is faster, stronger, more experienced, better defensively and the more intelligent fighter in my book. In addition to all of those things, Dirrell will have the home advantage due to the fight taking place in the United States rather than the 29-year-old DeGale’s home country of the UK. Even in the slick side of things, Dirrell is a better fighter. DeGale captured a gold medal in the 2008 Olympics for Britain by out-slicking his opposition.
Since turning pro, DeGale has used his crafty fighting skills to out-box 20 of his 21 opponents. I personally have DeGale’s record as 18-3 rather than 20-1, because I had DeGale losing to Mohoumadi and Wilczewski, as well as Groves. But they say that DeGale has improved since those fights, so there’s a possibility that he’ll be a different fighter than he has in the past. The thing I’ve noticed in DeGale’s performances over his last four fights, apart from him facing very, very beatable opposition, is that he’s sitting down on his punches a lot more than he did in the past. Don’t get me wrong; DeGale is still slapping with his shots as much as he did earlier in his career, but he’s definitely sitting down on his shots a little more. He’s closing his gloves more when he throws punches compared to in the past. The power on DeGale’s shots appear to be no better than it was earlier in his career though. He’s definitely not a major puncher. He gets his knockouts largely from hitting his opponents with looping right hooks that they don’t see coming due to the wide loop of the shots. His recent opponents weren’t wise enough to keep their guard up to take away DeGale’s looping hooks, and that’s why he scored all those knockouts.
DeGale is going to need to be able to find some hand speed, movement, defense and power by next month for him to be able to stand a chance against Dirrell. In his current form, DeGale is just too slow and flat-footed for him to have a chance at beating Dirrell. That’s just the way I see it. DeGale is too heavy-legged, and too much of a slapper to compete against Dirrell. I think someone like Carl Froch would give Dirrell a much better test than DeGale. But even Froch struggled badly in beating Dirrell by a controversial 12 round decision six years ago in their fight in Froch’s hometown of Nottingham, UK. Froch put a lot of pressure on Dirrell, but it was ineffective pressure with Froch missing with pretty much everything he threw at him in that fight. Dirrell’s shots were pinpoint all night long. Froch then appeared to lose his temper from the 5th round, and he then fought what I consider a dirty fight from rounds 5 through 11.
Dirrell is coming off of a masterclass performance against a very hard hitting Derek Edwards last December. Dirrell won almost every round of the fight, and he did a good job of making Edwards miss with his big power shots. I rate Edwards as perhaps the second best puncher in the super middleweight division behind Froch. I don’t think Edwards is that far behind Froch in the power department, but Dirrell was able to take Edward’s best shots and keep nailing him with flurries.
It was so one-sided by the 6th round that you could have made an argument that the fight really should have been stopped at that point. Edward’s trainer obviously knows that with his fighter’s punching power, he’s got the kind of punch that can turn a fight around at a moment’s notice. That’s only reason why I think they kept him out there taking punishment rather than them halting the fight at the midway point of the fight.
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