By Scott Gilfoid: Well, Andre Dirrell (24-2, 16 KOs) isn’t taking his recent loss to James DeGale (21-1, 14 KOs) lying down. Dirrell wants his rematch and he’s coming after the 29-year-old DeGale to try and get it.
Dirrell was recently beaten by DeGale by what Dirrell and some other boxing fans feel was a controversial decision. As such, Dirrell wants a chance to avenge his loss by getting a rematch against DeGale as soon as possible.
Dirrell says he’s even more hungry now after the loss, and he’s already working hard in the gym to get in even better shape so that he can get DeGale in the ring and whip him.
“You did it. The first gold medalist to win a world championship,” Dirrell said to Fight Discovery. “You did it. You did it off my back. I’ll take that, but I’m just as hungry now. I’m even more hungry now, Baby. I got to come get it. Rematch. Rematch!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2yPObvGiso
I think there’s unfinished business between Dirrell and DeGale because their fight was too close for DeGale to walk away from it. The judges gave DeGale a 12 round decision win by the scores of 114-112, 117-109, and 114-112. I personally scored the fight in Dirrell’s favor because he won the vast majority of the rounds.
The referee blew it in the 2nd round when he scored two knockdowns instead of just one. Dirrell was pushed to the canvas by DeGale after the first knockdown, and the referee still counted it as a legitimate knockout. The 2nd round should have been scored 10-8 instead of 10-7.
DeGale and his promoter Eddie Hearn are talking about wanting to pick from the old war horses Mikkel Kessler and Lucian Bute for his next fight in the summer. Neither of these two fighters has fought in ages, and I don’t know how the International Boxing Federation would sanction a fight between one of them and DeGale. I mean, the 36-year-old Kessler hasn’t fought in two years since 2013 when he was beaten by Carl Froch.
Bute hasn’t fought in a year and a half since losing a 12 round decision to Jean Pascal in January 2014. Even 50-year-old Bernard Hopkins has been mentioned as a potential opponent for DeGale. I don’t know why Hearn and DeGale aren’t looking at facing any of the top 15 contenders the IBF has ranked, because those guys deserve a world title shot above fighters like Kessler, Bute and Hopkins in my view.
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