Andre Dirrell vs. Arthur Abraham

Weekend Round up for Boxing.

This weekend was absolutely awesome for the world of boxing. We had some surprising performances from young and talented athletes. The majority of us thought we had clear cut winners on the matchups this past Saturday. Although on any given night anyone can be beat by any contender ask Buster Douglas.

Andre Dirrell vs. Arthur Abraham

I was pleasantly astonished with the show young Andre Dirrell displayed against the brutal veteran Arthur Abraham. Dirrell (19-1 13 KOs) not nearly having the experience the then undefeated Abraham (31-1 25 KOs) has in his professional career. Dirrell exploited several weaknesses that several of us didn’t even know Abraham had.

For being undefeated Dirrell made Abraham look extremely ordinary. Dirrell’s hand speed, lateral movement, and counter punching seemed to baffle Abraham. Styles make fights and if it wasn’t for the Super Six tournament then I doubt “King” Arthur’s camp would’ve chose to select Dirrell as an opponent.

Through out time we’ve seen the straight up European boxing style have difficultly with slick and athletic American boxers. Perfect example is this fight and the fight between Oakland native Andre Ward and Denmark native Mikkel Kessler. Where Ward just thumped Kessler for 11 rounds until one of the cuts Ward gave Kessler caused the fight to go to cards. Kessler had numerous cuts that night most from punches but some from accidental head butts.

There is no doubt that Abraham was frustrated by Dirrell’s movement and speed. It was clearly depicted when he started throwing wildly in the 10th and 11th round. And then he epitomized his frustration by punching Dirrell after he slipped onto his back side. Of course Showtime replayed the blow every opportunity possible and it was clear that it was an illegal blow. It was only fitting that the referee called the fight and handed Abraham a disqualification for his first loss.

This shouldn’t take away from what Dirrell did to Abraham Dirrell looked like the dominate professional against an under skilled amateur. Dirrell definitely turned the tournament upside down with this win now the American’s even up the wins with the Europeans. Next up for the Super Six tournament is a European show down undefeated WBC world champion Carl Froch against former WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler on April 24th.




Vic.P