By Keith Idec
Andre Dirrell will return to the ring April 12 in a 10-round super middleweight fight against Ossie Duran.
The Dirrell-Diran fight will be broadcast as the main event of an ESPN2 “Friday Night Fights” broadcast. Vinny Scolpino, Duran’s adviser, said the site of the fight has not been determined.
The 29-year-old Dirrell (21-1, 14 KOs), of Flint, Mich., most recently fought Feb. 2, when he out-pointed Ghana’s Michael Ggenga (14-7, 14 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 10-rounder. The 35-year-old Duran (28-10-2, 11 KOs), also a native of Ghana, most recently out-pointed journeyman Joshua Snyder (9-8-1, 3 KOs) by unanimous decision in a six-rounder Oct. 13 in Newark, N.J.
The Paterson, N.J., resident has competed exclusively as a junior middleweight and middleweight, but Scolpino said he “didn’t hesitate” to make his super middleweight debut against Dirrell, a championship-caliber southpaw whose lone loss was a split-decision defeat to Carl Froch (30-2, 22 KOs) in October 2009. That 12-round fight for Froch’s WBC super middleweight title was contested in Nottingham, England, Froch’s hometown.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.