By Scott Gilfoid: The super talented Andre Dirrell’s moment in the sun was spoiled beyond things he could control last Saturday night with the 33-year-old Flint, Michigan native winning in an 8th round disqualification over a frustrated looking Jose Uzcategui (26-2, 22 KOs) at the MGM National Arena in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Referee Bill Clancy disqualified Uzcategui on the spot after the late hit of Dirrell. Clancy said that the knockout punch that Uzcategui had landed had come after the bell had sounded to end the round. Dirrell was knocked out by the late punches from Uzcategui, which left him lying down face first on the canvas. Clancy concluded that Dirrell was too hurt for him to allow the fight to continue.
You can argue that Clancy could have waited around to see if Dirrell would recover from the knockout, but given how hurt he looked, I think it would have been silly if he’d let the fight continue. Dirrell was clearly badly hurt. It would have been crazy to let the match continue once he had had recovered from the knockout. It would have put Clancy in a bad position if he had let the fight continue after Dirrell had been seemingly knocked out by Uzcategui.
Sadly, this was the second time in Dirrell’s career that he’d been knocked out by a fighter that had fouled him. Dirrell was knocked out by Arthur Abraham in 2010 in the Super Six tournament. Dirrell slipped on the wet canvas in round 11. While Dirrell was in the sitting position on the canvas, Abraham leaned over him and nailed him with a big right hand to the head. Dirrell never saw the punch coming, and immediately he fell over unconscious. Subsequently, the referee working the fight, Lawrence Cole, disqualified Abraham for his foul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNNApp9XObQ
Dirrell had gotten the better of Uzcategui throughout the 8th round. However, after the bell sounded to end the 8th, Uzcategui unloaded on Dirrell with several hard punches to the head that knocked him out. No one will ever know why Uzcategui continued to throw punches after the bell had sounded. That’s the mystery of it all. What we do know is this wasn’t the first time that Uzcategui had done this in the fight.
In round 2, Uzcategui hit Dirrell hard with a big punch to the head AFTER that round had ended. Referee Bill Clancy gave Uzcategui a stern warning at that time not to do that again. It’s unclear whether Uzcategui heard the warning from Clancy or understand what he was saying. But being a professional fighter, Uzcategui obviously knows that you don’t just keep throwing punches when the bell sounds to end the rounds.
The bell at the end of the rounds doesn’t mean to start fighting. It’s not like a yellow street light. It means you must stop punching. Last Saturday, Uzcategui opted not to stop punching after the bell had sounded in round 8. Uzcategui didn’t stop punching until he had knocked Dirrell down? It was very strange and unfortunate.
Uzcategui was ahead on the scorecards, and clearly didn’t need to shoot himself in the foot by teeing off on Dirrell – again – after the bell like he had earlier in the fight in round 2. As such, Dirrell moves on with his career while Uzcategui is left with another loss. I guess Uzcategui will figure out from this loss that you kind of need to stop punching when the sounds. If Uzcategui keeps doing this kind of thing in the future, he’s not going to be able to progress. He’s got open his ears to things like the warnings he’s being given by the referee and the bell to end the rounds.
“I’m sorry for what my coach has done,” Dirrell said. “My coach is my family, my uncle, and he was worried. He cares for me. He loves me. Please forgive him. I’m going to stand up like a man. I didn’t win like I wanted to, but I’ll be back.”
Dirrell will definitely be back. He now is in the driver’s seat to get a rematch with James DeGale, the IBF 168 pound champion.
The Dirrell-Uzcategui fight was further marred by Dirrell’s assistant trainer and Uncle Leon Lawson Jr. punching Uzcategui in the jaw moments after the fight had concluded. Lawson Jr. is reportedly wanted on a couple of assault charges. He was seen on the Showtime Boxing telecast punching Uzcategui two times. The first punch was to the jaw and the second to the chest area.
The good news that came out of the Dirrell-Uzcategui fight was the fact that the 33-year-old Dirrell captured the interim International Boxing Federation super middleweight title. Winning that strap will allow Dirrell to fight a rematch with IBF 168 pound champion James DeGale, who beat Dirrell by a close 12 round unanimous decision two years ago on May 23, 2015. DeGale won the fight over Dirrell by the scores 114-112, 117-109 and 114-112. I had DeGale barely winning. That was with DeGale knocking Dirrell down two times in round 2. If you take away those two knockdowns, Dirrell would have won the fight. I’m just saying. The cream rises to the top. Dirrell didn’t look like he was in the best of shape for the DeGale fight. Last night, Dirrell was in fantastic shape against Uzcategui and he was doing a splendid job of out-boxing the big punching Venezuelan fighter though the first 7 rounds of the fight.
Uzcategui hurt Dirrell in round 2 with a chopping right hand to the head. Dirrell was only hurt briefly. Dirrell quickly recuperated and was fighting well by the end of the 2nd round. Dirrell took command of the fight in the 3rd round and never looked back, as he was schooling the slower, limited Uzcategui in rounds 3 through 7.
What was surprising to some boxing fans is that Uzcategui was ahead at the time that he fouled Dirrell at the end of the 8th round. The judges had Uzcategui ahead by the scores 77-74, 77-75 and 76-76. I had Dirrell comfortably ahead 7 rounds to 1 at the time that Uzcategui fouled him at the end of the 8th.
Just where Uzcategui goes from here is the big question. The 26-year-old Uzcategui was soundly beaten three years ago by Russian Matt Karobov by a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision. However, Uzcategui was only 23 at the time, and he probably wasn’t ready to face an advanced fighter with the amateur background that Korobov had going for him. Uzcategui came into the Dirrell fight riding a 4-fight winning streak against largely beatable opposition. As hard as Uzcategui punches, I cannot see him getting a title shot against any of the champions in the 168 pound division without him becoming a mandatory challenger. It might take Uzcategui a while to get put in another eliminator bout. I can’t see it happening this year.
It’s possible that if Uzcategui starts winning again, he could fight in another eliminator in year or two. We’ll have to see. I just hope that Uzcategui starts listening for the bell in his future fights so he doesn’t keep getting disqualified. He hit Dirrell twice after the bell in the fight. The shot that Uzcategui hit Dirrell with in round 2 was a really hard punch. That was a free shot. For Uzcategui to do it again in the 8th, it’s troubling.