(Credit: Dave Nadkarni/Premier Boxing Champions) By Jim Dower: Former WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell (29-1-1 23 KOs) made easy work of former world title challenger Caleb Truax (26-3-2, 16 KOs) in stopping him in the 1st round on Friday night on Premier Boxing Champions on Spike from the Trump Taj Mahal, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.
Dirrell, 31, knocked Traux down twice in the 1st round with big power shots. Referee Harvey Dock halted the fight after the second knockdown. The official time of the stoppage was 1:49 of the 1st round.
Both fighters exchanged jabs in the opening moments of the fight. However, Dirrell landed a big right hand to the head that staggered the 32-year-old Truax. Dirrell then jumped on him in landing a couple of other nice right hands. Truax hit the deck after getting hit by a solid right hand. Truax got back to his feet but he looked hurt, and he kept opening and closing his mouth as if he may have suffered an injury. When the action resumed, Dirrell landed a big left hook to the head that put Truax down for the second and final time in the round. The fight was then halted.
For Dirrell, this was his second consecutive win since losing his WBC title to Badou Jack last year. Dirrell is ranked #3 with the WBC and he wants a rematch with Badou Jack. If Dirrell can fight like this in a rematch against Jack, he would have an excellent chance of winning. The major reason why Dirrel lost to Jack last year was becaue he failed to throw enough punches. That’s all he needed to do was let his hands go, but he spent most of the fight throwing one shot at a time and looking to KO Jack with one punch. When that failed to work, he had no Plan-B to fall back on.