By Mark Vester
Once beaten Andre Dirrell (18-1, 13KOs) is making his last rounds of training as he prepares to fight undefeated Arthur Abraham (31-0, 25KOs) this coming Saturday at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. Abraham is the points leader in the Super Six tournament. The fight had to be postponed from the orginal date of March 6. Dirrell had hurt his back but say the injury healed up well. He put the decision loss to Carl Froch aside and is now ready to shock the world.
"It (the loss) bothered me a lot," Dirrell said to the Las Vegas Review Journal. "It made me wonder where my career was going. But I've put it behind me, and you're going to see me at my best on the 27th. I feel great. My back is 100 percent. Getting hurt may have been a blessing in disguise, because it gave me more time to prepare, and I've used it to work on the strategic aspect of the game plan."
Dirrell will have a hometown crowd of thousands behind him. He trained in Las Vegas to avoid the hometown distractions. A big win is what Dirrell wants to deliver to the home crowd. He knows Abraham will be coming forward with a lot of power in his punches. He has a plan to use Abraham's power against him
"I'm sure I'll feel the energy when I get to the ring," Dirrell said. "But what you do in the ring is the bottom line. It's hard to focus if you're training at home. You've got family. You've got friends. They're all pulling at you. But Vegas is the perfect place for me. I can run the mountains (at Mount Charleston). I have great sparring. It's all about boxing here for me."
"He's going to come forward with power, and you have to be smart and break his game. We have a great game plan, and I have no doubt I'm going to win this fight."
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