While the world waits for next month’s huge fight between Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao, there are a few intriguing matchups which could keep fight fans content until the big showdown. And one involves a Michigan fi ghter.
Flint’s Andre Dirrell (18-0), will face WBC champ Carl Froch (25-0), of England, Saturday in a super middleweight match as part of the “Super Six” tournament. The tourney pits the best fighters of that weight class against each other. On the same night, Jermain Taylor (28-3) faces Arthur Abraham (30-0) in Berlin.
The fact that these highcaliber fights are being held in Europe says something about the status of boxing in the United States, which is already in dire straits. But more on Taylor-Abraham later.
As for the 26-year-old
Dirrell, an Olympian who earned a bronze medal in the 2004 Games, this is his moment to seize, albeit a difficult one. He’ll be fighting on Froch’s home turf in the biggest bout of his career.
Granddad Leon Lawson is responsible for much of Dirrell’s success. When he and younger brother Anthony were growing up in Flint without a dependable dad around, he took them under his guidance and put boxing gloves on them. When they got tired of training and wanted to hang out with their friends instead of box, he’d have none of it. He made them continue boxing, knowing that it kept them out of trouble. Plus, they started showing some skill.
Anthony, 25, fought several times at The Palace of Auburn Hills while Andre, a free agent of sorts without connections to any promoter, fought mostly in California. His quality of opposition, though, is questionable, and he’s only gone 10 rounds once in his career.
Froch’s opponents might not be that much better. But one thing is for sure, he did score a TKO over Taylor, a former world champ, a few months ago. And he had to dig deep down in the latter rounds to do it.
My gut feeling suggests that if Froch can walk down Taylor, a seasoned pro, then he can do the same to Dirrell, whose best years, although they may be coming, may not be here yet.
Meanwhile, Taylor is walking a tightrope as a prime-time fighter. While three of his last four fights have ended in a loss, the more telling stat is that 10 of his last 16 fights have gone the distance. That’s 12 rounds of brutal fighting. Somewhere along the line, it’s been more difficult for Taylor to take out his opponents earlier. And lately, he’s shown signs of faltering in the latter rounds.
Not many fighters can return to the mountaintop, of which he was firmly planted during the middle of the decade. And that’s the challenge in front of Taylor, who is in a boxing slump for sure.
And Abraham, originally from Armenia but a resident of Germany much of his life, will be in the comfy comfines of his home turf. He probably hasn’t fought the quality of opposition as Taylor, but the European boxers, except for Ricky Hatton, are hot now. And the visiting Americans have a tall task ahead.
Next month, WBA champ Mikkel Kessler of Denmark takes on Andre Ward in Oakland, Calif. in the other Super Six tournament bout.
Remember Oliver McCall, who KO’ed Lennox Lewis 15 years ago to win the heavyweight title? He’s fighting next weekend against Lance Whitaker, who was a solid contender about five or six years ago. Slow motion is written all over this fight.
Suddenly, Roy Jones Jr., who never used to leave this country for a fight when he was the champ, is fighting all over the world. His next bout is in December against Danny Green in Australia. Jones, who last year lost to Joe Calzaghe in England, has apparently taken his show on the road as a traveling boxer.
Marvin Goodwin covers boxing for The Oakland Press. You can e-mail him at [email protected].
