Gary Shaw- I had Dirrell by a point/Fight not a robbery.
I: Obviously, things didn't go the way you were expecting in Andre Dirrell's WBC super middleweight title challenge against Carl Froch. Can you give us some thoughts on his performance, and also on the results?
Gary Shaw: I thought Dirrell did well for his first time on the big stage. He showed he could fight 12 rounds, and he showed he could really fight during the championship rounds. I felt we won the fight by a round. I don't think the point deduction was warranted, but it was a dirty fight on Froch's part, with a lot of hitting behind the head, continuously, even throwing him down in the fifth round. Judges need to score, in my book, not on style, but on effective blows. If you watch the fight, Dirrell landed more blows than Froch did."
I: You had Dirrell up by one, but do you think Froch getting a decision in his hometown is robbery, or is him getting the benefit of the doubt something you expected? How do you summarize the decision?
Gary Shaw: I don't want to say it's a robbery, I just think that sometimes the crowd can get to a judge. When there's 3000 people rooting for Froch, and there are twelve people rooting for Dirrell in the arena, as an example, one of the judges gave the eleventh round to Froch. That's almost an impossibility. I would hope that the WBC would review the judges scorecards, and watch the tapes, as well as all of you writers, and the fans. I got tons of e-mail, more than a hundred of them, all saying they believe Dirrell was robbed. The British fans were quiet, so that tells you how they thought the fight went.
I: I've recieved many e-mails to that effect, and I've also recieved many e-mails with people who feel that Dirrell lost the fight, but clearly had the tools to win. That he could have won the fight, had he fought more. Is that a position that you can understand?
GS: Yes, I absolutely can understand that. I believe that Dirrell absolutely could have won the fight going away, and he has the tools, and the make up to be a star, and possibly a superstar.
I: Does it concern you that following this learning experience with Froch, it's out of the pot and into the frying pan, going from England to Germany?
GS: We're not going to Germany. The Dirrell fight is here in the United States. There's a lot of rumors that it's in Germany, but it's not. We'll fight Arthur Abraham, I know he'll do well.
I: Even the styles match up. You're expecting him to make then necessary adjustments, and deal with the pressure that Abraham's going to bring, that doesn't make Dirrell look like he's on his bike too much.
GS: Right, I think we need to work more on circling, and not looking like we're running. We do want a lot of movement, and to frustrate Abraham. I know we frustrated Froch, because he kept saying that Dirrell didn't fight. What he doesn't understand is the name of the game is boxing. Only an idiot would stand in front of a puncher and get hit, Dirrell is no idiot.
I: What did you think of Abraham's win over Jermain Taylor?
GS: I have a lot of respect for Abraham, and he landed a great punch in the twelfth that did severe damage. I thought Jermain won the early rounds, but he didn't win as many rounds as he would have needed to win the fight.
I: You used the words severe damage to describe that punch, and I'm not going to argue with you. Since then, there's been a lot of speculation that Jermain may not move forward in the tournament. Should that come to fruition, in your opinion, who's best suited to replace him?
GS: I'm not going to speculate on that. First of all, I can't speak for Jermain, I'm not his manager, advisor, or promoter. I just hope that he's okay, and if he and his team feel that they should continue, if they don't feel he should continue, then they'll drop out of the tournament. That will be Jermain, and his team's decision, and Lou DiBella's decision. At that point, if someone asks my opinion, then I'll think about it. As far as I know, Jermain Taylor is still in the tournament.
I: You've got another big fight coming up with Glen Johnson and Chad Dawson, in Hartford, Connecticut. Can you tell us about that?
GS: On November 7th, I've got Dawson fighting. Chad is training well, he's stronger than he's ever been. We don't think Glen Johnson is going to anything that he hasn't done before. I believe that we beat Glen Johnson, in Florida, his home turf before. Chad will win again, and this time he'll win more convincingly.
I: What other opportunities are looming for Chad Dawson at light heavyweight?
GS: That's an interesting question. Remember that Chad can fight at 168 or 175. It appears Hopkins can be viewed as one, and they're going to do an over 40 tournament with Roy, so we're not going to sit around. There's Jean Pascal, that would be a very good fight up in Canada, Bute at 175 or maybe 168. Then if Roy wants to fight, or the winner of him and Hopkins, we'll certainly consider. One thing about Chad Dawson, he's never ducked anybody, he's willing to fight whoever is out there. Maybe Pavlik wants to fight him at 168.
I: Closing thoughts.
GS: We've got a lot of fights. I think Timothy Bradley is going to demolish Lamont Peterson. I believe Vic Darchinyan is going to continue his knockout streak where he had left off before Joseph Agbeko with Tomas Rojas. It's going to be a great year for GSP and it's fighters.
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