By Cliff Rold
The division that made for the most attended event of 2014 is just sort of there right now.
The Super Middleweight Champion, Andre Ward, hasn’t fought in over a year. According to multiple reports, his return isn’t imminent.
One can assume he is back before 2015 is out.
There’s nothing on the schedule.
The biggest draw, the man who drew over 60,000 for his rematch with George Groves last year, is inching towards a year off too. IBF/WBA titlist Carl Froch, one of the most reliable warriors of his generation, has hinted at retirement. Froch will be 38 this year. That’s a good retirement age in boxing. He’s made clear if he fights again he wants it to be a big money event.
Preferably, that event would come against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Chavez has signed to fight Light Heavyweight contender Andrzej Fonfara. Light Heavyweight, given Chavez’s training issues, might be his home from here on. Chavez says he’s fighting for Al Haymon now. Bob Arum says not so fast.
Chavez-Fonfara is anything but guaranteed to occur. A possible Froch-Chavez fight after that falls into the same category.
Arthur Abraham has a belt (WBO) in the division. He’s fighting a rematch with Paul Smith later this month. Abraham, at 34, is past his peak and likely a domestic draw in Germany until his fistic meter is spent. WBC titlist Anthony Dirrell hasn’t fought since winning his belt in August and nothing is scheduled.
In a division that still has name value, quality battlers, and depth remaining (even if declined from a peak a few years ago), this is not a good state.
There’s lots of talk to be had about Super Middleweights.
There aren’t enough fights.
Fights are what put butts in the seats.
This week, a potentially interesting fight with real implications for the future may finally have emerged.
Froch’s reticence about continuing led him to vacate the IBF belt this week. While the machinations of sanctioning bodies are often fairly derided, this is an occasion where something good could emerge from the mess.
The IBF’s current top contender is the UK’s 2008 Olympic Middleweight Gold Medalist James DeGale (20-1, 14 KO). DeGale has won ten in a row since a majority decision loss to Groves in 2011, six of those wins by knockout. At 29, DeGale is in his physical prime and has shown growth in recent outings. His competition hasn’t quite been at the elite level yet but there is evident talent there.
No one has fought the top guys until they have. DeGale is positioned to finally see where he fits at that level.
He’ll have to go through a fighter who had the talent to be there years ago.
2004 US Olympic Middleweight Bronze Medalist Andre Dirrell (24-1, 16 KO) is the IBF’s number two. His only loss is a still debated decision against Froch. While brother Anthony is usually the more crowd-pleasing of the two, there is no argument about which of the two is most blessed in the ring. Andre Dirrell has two of the fastest hands in boxing, can display big time power, and when he’s on can be a dazzling boxer.
He’s not always on.
Worse, he’s hasn’t always been in the ring. Management and claimed health issues saw him exit the Super Six tournament early in 2010 and fight only twice from March of that year to August 2014. Since getting back in the saddle, Dirrell has had three fights against rust-shaking competition.
Dirrell is still only 31. It feels like he should be older given how long he’s been around. It also feels like crunch time if he’s going to make something of his talent.
DeGale-Dirrell doesn’t look like an action classic by any stretch.
It does look like a well-made, highly competitive clash between two guys who desperately need to beat each other. That both haven’t always been consistent adds to the intrigue. Can they find a foil in each other to finish the rounding of their games?
With little else to hope for in terms of title chances, this looks like the direction both men are headed…and that will give the division some of the direction it lacks. If nothing else, the match would create an opponent people want to see Ward against when he does return to the ring. If DeGale wins, it could create an event incentive for Froch to try to get his belt back before he hangs them up.
But the two big names in the class aren’t needed to create the direction DeGale-Dirrell can.
With Ward on the shelf, and Froch with a foot out the door, this could very well determine whom the fans see as the de facto leader at Super Middleweight. Let everyone else talk about fighting. It looks like DeGale and Dirrell will be fighting, period.
There is no substitute for results. If DeGale beats Dirrell, he will finally have the sort of foe that says the Olympic Champion might be ready to live up to lofty expectations. If Dirrell wins, he’s finally returned a once promising career to an upward trajectory.
It’s not the best fight that can be made in boxing.
It might be the best we can ask for at Super Middleweight while business continues outside the ring.
Cliff’s Notes…
Yes, that was Gorilla Grodd on The Flash this week. Sing with joy geeks everywhere…On May 2, it will be a Saturday. We can take that for granted…So Juan Francisco Estrada is looking at fighting Tyson Marquez. Roman Gonzalez may be headed towards Edgar Sosa. It sucks when Flyweight looks like everywhere else…Wladimir Klitschko-Shannon Briggs will never be interesting. Ever…Prediction: Leo Santa Cruz will fight Guillermo Rigondeaux when someone else named Guillermo Rigondeaux emerges at Jr. Featherweight…Will Beyonce be a ring card girl at Roc Nation cards? She might need to be if they don’t get anything going soon.
Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
