By Jake Donovan
Andre Dirrell and James DeGale had less trouble at the scales than they did with being in each other’s presence during Friday’s weigh-in. Both fighters made weight for their showdown this Saturday in Boston, but had to be separated after an intense staredown and brief trash talk exchange.
Dirrell weighed in at 167.8 lbs. in his second crack at a major title. DeGale weighed in at 167.2 lbs. for his first title shot and also the first states appearance for the Londoner, who captured a Gold medal for Great Britain in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The bout will air live on NBC in the United States (Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET), and will be contested for a vacant super middleweight belt.
DeGale became the mandatory challenger for the title following a 4th round knockout of Brandon Gonzales last May. The feat came on the undercard of then-super middleweight titlist Carl Froch’s repeat knockout of George Groves in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium In London.
Froch opted to relinquish the title in pursuit of major fights, but a bum shoulder and thoughts of retirement have kept him on the sidelines.
Dirrell slid into a title opportunity as a result, riding a six-fight win streak since his own loss to Froch in Oct. ’09. The fight comes just four weeks after his younger brother, Anthony Dirrell saw his title reign and unbeaten record fall in a decision loss to Badou Jack last month in Chicago.
The headlining act comes in the first Saturday afternoon installment of Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) series on NBC. The previous two episodes to air on the network came in primetime on Saturday evenings in March and April. The series has also aired on Friday evenings on Spike TV, and separate Saturday afternoons in April and May on CBS.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox