By Mark Vester

At the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, super middleweight Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13KOs) beat previously undefeated Arthur Abraham (31-1, 25KOs) with an eleven round disqualification when Abraham hit Dirrell while he was down. Dirrell received two points for the win in the Super Six tournament. Dirrell was knocked out from the shot and the doctors had to rush the ring. Dirrell was fine after the contest was over and was able to eventually get to his feet.

The first round was slow with both fighters feeling each other out. Abraham stayed defensive as Dirrell kept his distance and boxed. In the second, both fighters had moments but Dirrell was outworking Abraham by throwing a lot more punches. In the third, Abraham started using the jab to close the distance. Dirrell was using his jab to keep Abraham back. Abraham was putting on the pressure and started letting his hands go. Dirrell did his best to get away from the punches and started to counter.

In the fourth, Abraham's face appeared to be swelling a bit from Dirrell's jab. During an exchange of punches as Abraham charged, Dirrell dropped him for the first time in his career with a hard counter left hand. Abraham got up and Dirrell began to catch him with counters until the bell. At the start of the fifth, Dirrell began to land  Abraham landed a good right. Dirrell countered with numerous combinations to back Abraham up. During the fifth, Abraham was already starting to chase after Dirrell, who continued to outbox him.

In the sixth, Abraham picked up the pressure and was chasing after Dirrell. Dirrell stayed moving and throwing a good jab with combinations as Abraham came in. The seventh saw Dirrell continue to box from the distance and use his jab to keep Abraham at bay. A nasty cut opened up above the right eye of Abraham from a Dirrell left hand. During the ninth, Dirrell continued to stay away but let his hands go when Abraham would catch up to him and exploded with punches.

Dirrell was started to take the fight to Abraham and began to unload with punches to the head and body. Abraham was confused as Dirrell was switching stances and continued to land big shots when ABraham tried to come inside. There was a long time out for the doctors to take a look at Abraham's cut. When the action restarted, Dirrell went back to work and was throwing hard shots with both hands. Abraham landed a hard right at the bell but Dirrell took it.

At the start of the tenth, Dirrell was landing shots to the head and body. Abraham continued to push forward trying to land something big. It seemed like Dirrell got dropped from a shot by Abraham but the ref called it a slip. Abraham began to work Dirrell over with shots to the head and body. Dirrell looked buzzed from the punch that caught him. Abraham was wearing him down until the bell.

Dirrell was on his bike in the eleventh round. Abraham was pressuring hard. During the action, Dirrell appeared to slip down and he was drilled with a massive shot from Abraham while he was down. Dirrell was knocked out cold and the ref quickly disqualified Abraham.

Undercard Results

Heavyweight prospect Rich Power (11-0, 8 KOs) stopped Ray Lopez (1-1, 1 KO) in three rounds.

Purnell Gates (18-1, 13 KOs) won a split decision over Chris Grays (9-19, 2 KOs) in a four round middleweight contest. No scores were given by the announcer.

Cruiserweight prospect Lateef Kayode (11-0, 10 KOs) stopped Chris Thomas (17-10-2, 14 KOs) in the fourth round.

Brian Mihtar (13-1, 10 KOs) won a six round decision over Robert Kamya (17-11, 4 KOs) in a junior middleweight bout.

Ronald Hearns (24-1, 18 KOs) won a six round unanimous decision over Marteze Logan (26-43-2, 6 KOs) in a middleweight contest.