Weights: Dirrell-Caparello & Dirrell-Truax

By Boxing News - 04/28/2016 - Comments

dirrell45(Credit: Dave Nadkarni/Premier Boxing Champions) By Jim Dower: Former world title challenger Andre Dirrell (24-2, 16 KOs) weighed on Thursday for his fight on Friday night against the dependable Blake Caparello (22-1-1, 6 KOs) for their fight at the Trump Taj Mahal, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Dirrell weighed in at 169lbs. Caparello weighed in slightly less at 167.

This is necessary win fight for Dirrell, #5 WBC, #5 IBF. Dirrell came up a little short last year in his contest against James DeGale for the vacant IBF super middleweight title. Dirrell, 32, is now fine-tuning his game to go for another world title.

Dirrell would like to get another fight against DeGale, but if he cannot get that fight, then he’ll be fine with fighting one of the other champions in the weight class.

A loss for Andre Dirrell in this fight could spell the end for him. Losing to DeGale is understandable, but losing to a fighter like Caparello would mean that Dirrell didn’t have the ability to compete with the best in the 168lb division. He would need to make a tough decision about his career after a loss like that.

Andre’s brother, former WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell (28-1-1, 22 KOs) weighed in at 168.8lbs. His opponent Caleb Truax (26-2-2, 16 KOs) weighed in at 168.6lbs. This is the second fight for Dirrell since his loss to Badou Jack last year.

Dirrell lost his WBC title last April in a 12 round majority decision defeat at the hands of Badou Jack. Dirrell was unable to throw enough punches to handle the high work rate and the pressure from Jack.

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Anthony Dirrell is a flat footed fighter that doesn’t throw a lot of punches. It doesn’t appear that his fighting style changeable for him to adapt to become more mobile and to throw more shots. This means that Dirrell will continue to have problems when fighting guys that have high work rates, and who can move around the ring.