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Promoter Gary Shaw, right, said that he is "pushing for a rematch with the WBC" between his 168-pound fighter, Andre Dirrell (18-1, 13 KOs), and the organization's super middleweight champion, Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KOs), who won a split-decision over Dirrell on Oct. 17 as part of Showtime's Super Six super middleweight tournament.
"I'm looking to try to get it done for December. I'm talking to Showtime about it, and I have a meeting with them this week," said Shaw, whose talented southpaw, Dirrell, is scheduled to face hard-hitting, former middleweight world titlist, Arthur Abraham (31-0, 25 KOs), in the second stage of the tournament on Jan. 23.
Abraham is coming off of an Oct. 17, 12th-round knockout of former middleweight world champion, Jermain Taylor.
Dirrell lost what was considered by many to be a controversial decision in Froch's hometown of Nottingham, England.
European judges Massimo Barrovecchio and Daniel Van De Wiele both scored the fight 115-112 for Froch, while Mexican judge Alejandro Rochin awarded Dirrell a decision, 114-113.
FanHouse scored the 168-pound clash 115-113 for Dirrell, who complained, throughout, that he was being hit behind the head and on the break several times by Froch, and who expressed shock that referee Hector Afu deducted a point from him for excessive holding during the 10th round, when he had Froch hurt.
"He was holding me and hitting me in the back of the head the whole time," said Dirrell, who was slammed to the ground by Froch (pictured) in the fifth round. "He was rough the whole fight. And he takes a point from me without warning. But we know where we're at."
Froch's next matchup, against Denmark's WBA king, Mikkel Kessler (42-1, 32 KOs), has not yet been scheduled, since Kessler still has to face Andre Ward (20-0, 13 KOs) in their first-round matchup on Nov. 21.
"The rule is that if it doesn't break up the Showtime tournament, then Froch can be the guy," said Shaw, adding that he is "absolutely" trying to make Froch-Dirrell for December.
There is little reason to believe that Shaw won't get his way, because, for the past few weeks, the promoter has been on a roll and luck has been largely on his side.
"We've had a lot of fighters winning championships," said Shaw. "We've been very, very blessed."
On Saturday, Shaw's top performer, 175-pound Chad Dawson (29-0, 17 KOs) defended his IBO light heavyweight title and earned the WBC's interim crown against Glen Johnson, defeating the 40-year-old challenger for the second time.
On the Dawson-Johnson undercard, Shaw's junior middleweight, Alfredo Angulo put previously undefeated, Harry Joe Yorgey (22-1-1, 10 KOs), on the canvas three times on the way to a third-round stoppage.
A 27-year-old native of Mexicali, Mexico, Angulo, who lives in Coachella, Calif., improved his record to 16-1 with his 13th knockout and his 12th stoppage in his past 13 fights.
In victory, Angulo bounced back from a loss to Kermit Cintron and earned the WBO's interim title in the process.
"I'm going to bring Angulo back to the West Coast and fight him in the Los Angeles area," said Shaw. "I haven't honed in yet on the opponent for him, but that will happen probably in April."
A weekend earlier on Halloween night at the Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas, Shaw watched Colombian-born bantamweight Yonnhy Perez, and Mexican southpaw lightweight Antonio Demarco score two impressive, if not improbable, victories on the way to earning crowns.
Perez, 30, improved his record to 20-0, with 14 knockouts when he dethroned the IBF 118-pound champion, Joseph Agbeko, of Ghana, handing him only his second loss in 29 bouts.
Perez stood toe-to-toe, and won many of those exchanges. Perez also floored Agbeko for the first time in his career in the 10th round on the way to winning, 117-110, on two judges' cards, and, 116-111, on that of the third.
"Yonnhy Perez was in the fight of the year, in my mind. He showed everybody what he's made of by beating down Agbeko," said Shaw, who has ruled out a rematch with Agbeko.
"That [Agbeko] won't happen. That's done. He's finished," said Shaw. "Yonnhy will be in a mandatory position, but I'm not sure who we'll fight at 118."
The 23-year-old Demarco (23-1-1) had been even more dominant during his 135-pound clash with Jose Alfaro, against whom he won every round before scoring three knockdowns that forced referee Joe Cortez to call a halt to their bout at 2:07 of that 10th round.
For Demarco, the win marked his 17th by knockout as he earned a right to face WBC champ, Edwin Valero (25-0, 25 KOs), of Venezuela.
Valero, 27, has a defense scheduled for Dec. 19 in Caracas, Venezuela, against Mexico's Hector Velazquez (51-13-2, 35 KOs).
Since losing a six-round, majority decision to Anthony Vasquez in February of 2006, Demarco is 15-0-1, with 10 knockouts.
"If Demarco fights Valero, I believe that he'll knock Valero out," said Shaw. "That would be to just about everybody's shock and surprise, but Demarco is for real."
Over the next few weeks, Shaw has South African Ali Funeka (30-2-2, 25) fighting Brooklyn's Joan Guzman (29-0, 17) for the vacant IBF lightweight title on Nov. 28, and Ola Afolabi (14-1-3, six) of West Hills, Calif., taking on Germany's Marcus Huck (26-1, 20) for the WBO cruiserweight (200 pounds) championship on Dec. 5.
Also next month, Tim Bradley (24-0, 11) of Palm Springs will defend his WBO junior welterweight (140) crown against Lamont Peterson (27-0, 13) of Washington, D.C., on Dec. 12, and Armenian-born Vic Darchinyan (32-2-1, 26) will put his WBC and WBA super flyweight (115 pounds) titles on the line against Mexico's Tomas Rojas (32-11-1, 22).
"I'm looking to try to get it done for December. I'm talking to Showtime about it, and I have a meeting with them this week," said Shaw, whose talented southpaw, Dirrell, is scheduled to face hard-hitting, former middleweight world titlist, Arthur Abraham (31-0, 25 KOs), in the second stage of the tournament on Jan. 23.
Abraham is coming off of an Oct. 17, 12th-round knockout of former middleweight world champion, Jermain Taylor.
Dirrell lost what was considered by many to be a controversial decision in Froch's hometown of Nottingham, England.
European judges Massimo Barrovecchio and Daniel Van De Wiele both scored the fight 115-112 for Froch, while Mexican judge Alejandro Rochin awarded Dirrell a decision, 114-113.
FanHouse scored the 168-pound clash 115-113 for Dirrell, who complained, throughout, that he was being hit behind the head and on the break several times by Froch, and who expressed shock that referee Hector Afu deducted a point from him for excessive holding during the 10th round, when he had Froch hurt.
"He was holding me and hitting me in the back of the head the whole time," said Dirrell, who was slammed to the ground by Froch (pictured) in the fifth round. "He was rough the whole fight. And he takes a point from me without warning. But we know where we're at."
Froch's next matchup, against Denmark's WBA king, Mikkel Kessler (42-1, 32 KOs), has not yet been scheduled, since Kessler still has to face Andre Ward (20-0, 13 KOs) in their first-round matchup on Nov. 21.
"The rule is that if it doesn't break up the Showtime tournament, then Froch can be the guy," said Shaw, adding that he is "absolutely" trying to make Froch-Dirrell for December.
There is little reason to believe that Shaw won't get his way, because, for the past few weeks, the promoter has been on a roll and luck has been largely on his side.
"We've had a lot of fighters winning championships," said Shaw. "We've been very, very blessed."
On Saturday, Shaw's top performer, 175-pound Chad Dawson (29-0, 17 KOs) defended his IBO light heavyweight title and earned the WBC's interim crown against Glen Johnson, defeating the 40-year-old challenger for the second time.
On the Dawson-Johnson undercard, Shaw's junior middleweight, Alfredo Angulo put previously undefeated, Harry Joe Yorgey (22-1-1, 10 KOs), on the canvas three times on the way to a third-round stoppage.
A 27-year-old native of Mexicali, Mexico, Angulo, who lives in Coachella, Calif., improved his record to 16-1 with his 13th knockout and his 12th stoppage in his past 13 fights.
In victory, Angulo bounced back from a loss to Kermit Cintron and earned the WBO's interim title in the process.
"I'm going to bring Angulo back to the West Coast and fight him in the Los Angeles area," said Shaw. "I haven't honed in yet on the opponent for him, but that will happen probably in April."
A weekend earlier on Halloween night at the Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas, Shaw watched Colombian-born bantamweight Yonnhy Perez, and Mexican southpaw lightweight Antonio Demarco score two impressive, if not improbable, victories on the way to earning crowns.
Perez, 30, improved his record to 20-0, with 14 knockouts when he dethroned the IBF 118-pound champion, Joseph Agbeko, of Ghana, handing him only his second loss in 29 bouts.
Perez stood toe-to-toe, and won many of those exchanges. Perez also floored Agbeko for the first time in his career in the 10th round on the way to winning, 117-110, on two judges' cards, and, 116-111, on that of the third.
"Yonnhy Perez was in the fight of the year, in my mind. He showed everybody what he's made of by beating down Agbeko," said Shaw, who has ruled out a rematch with Agbeko.
"That [Agbeko] won't happen. That's done. He's finished," said Shaw. "Yonnhy will be in a mandatory position, but I'm not sure who we'll fight at 118."
The 23-year-old Demarco (23-1-1) had been even more dominant during his 135-pound clash with Jose Alfaro, against whom he won every round before scoring three knockdowns that forced referee Joe Cortez to call a halt to their bout at 2:07 of that 10th round.
For Demarco, the win marked his 17th by knockout as he earned a right to face WBC champ, Edwin Valero (25-0, 25 KOs), of Venezuela.
Valero, 27, has a defense scheduled for Dec. 19 in Caracas, Venezuela, against Mexico's Hector Velazquez (51-13-2, 35 KOs).
Since losing a six-round, majority decision to Anthony Vasquez in February of 2006, Demarco is 15-0-1, with 10 knockouts.
"If Demarco fights Valero, I believe that he'll knock Valero out," said Shaw. "That would be to just about everybody's shock and surprise, but Demarco is for real."
Over the next few weeks, Shaw has South African Ali Funeka (30-2-2, 25) fighting Brooklyn's Joan Guzman (29-0, 17) for the vacant IBF lightweight title on Nov. 28, and Ola Afolabi (14-1-3, six) of West Hills, Calif., taking on Germany's Marcus Huck (26-1, 20) for the WBO cruiserweight (200 pounds) championship on Dec. 5.
Also next month, Tim Bradley (24-0, 11) of Palm Springs will defend his WBO junior welterweight (140) crown against Lamont Peterson (27-0, 13) of Washington, D.C., on Dec. 12, and Armenian-born Vic Darchinyan (32-2-1, 26) will put his WBC and WBA super flyweight (115 pounds) titles on the line against Mexico's Tomas Rojas (32-11-1, 22).
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