WBC Orders Ward-Dirrell Super Middleweight Eliminator

[Boxingwizard]

Why not a Froch/Ward of Froch/Direll match, I get sick of title eliminators, then when you win many times they will make you fight in another title eliminator.

Well Dirrell is the mandatory for Karoly Balzsay's belt, the problem is the WBO rarely enforces champions to fight mandatories. So Dirrell is eyeing the other ABC belts.

[Bhopreign]

why not Ward/Dirrell and think of it as just a good fight between two young fighters. Not as a title eliminator for a paper title. It's makes enjoying boxing a hell of a lot easier.

Wouldnt make sense if it wasnt for a title eliminator, after all what are they fighting for, titles, recognition, money, which comes with having a title. I would just like to see these guys face off when they are more established thats all, a little later on down the road.

[-Swizzy-]

thank god your not a match-maker. Seriously, how is a fighter to grow if all they fight are old past their prime fighters or old fighters from lighter divisions? You have the same mindset as Lou DiBella, and look how that worked out for Jermain Taylor and how Andre Berto still isn't ready for the bigtime. So many people put way too much emphasis on undefeated records. Sure a fighter could be a bit more marketable on the outset, but once you hit your prime, if your not ready, your going to get your ass handed to you and lose all opportunities to cash in. When two young fighters square off, they both learn a lot about themselves and opponents. You couple that with the loser not being written off, and you have a winning situation for all involved. It also stops from having too many crossroads fights with young fighters, because they couldn't handle the elite and then lost all confidence and fan support and are basically done by the age of 29 or 30, ala Jeff Lacy. Fans get more excited when two young up and comers face off, and we get more clear cut contenders who have already proved their mettle. ANd let's face it, both of these guys won't be that big in the next couple of years, so why not get the winner a leg up right now?

who said they would be fighting older past prime fighters? We're talking about the loaded SMW division here. There are tones of fights for them to last a good number of years. Froch, Bute, Kessler, Taylor, Bika, Green, Andrade...... They have plenty of great opponents to last them for awhile.

and why wouldn't they be that big in couple of years? how could you know that for sure? anything could happen at anytime.

[Bhopreign]

Well Dirrell is the mandatory for Karoly Balzsay's belt, the problem is the WBO rarely enforces champions to fight mandatories. So Dirrell is eyeing the other ABC belts.

Then Dirrell should take them to court or do something about it. Wonder why they dont enforce mandatories?

[black.ink]

Then Dirrell should take them to court or do something about it. Wonder why they dont enforce mandatories?

I agree, if Dirrell has worked his way into the number 1 spot, he should have the right to have a title shot, right? Dirrell/Balszay would be a good match-up, but i'd take the underrated Balszay in that fight.

Also, like someone else mentioned, i'd like Taylor to earn another shot at the title by taking on Ward instead. The winner of that can face the winner of Bute/Froch.

I just cannot see Ward/Dirrell coming off to be honest.

[JakeNDaBox]

does anybody kno what it means for a fight to go to a purse bid?

In a nutshell, it's almost like an auction open to the public, once a private 30-day sale is over and merchandise still needs to be moved.

When a sanctioning body orders a fight - be it a title fight or title eliminator - the two camps have 30 days to negotiate such a fight. If an agreement cannot be reached, then fight goes to purse bid, which means that any promoter - not just the promoter(s) involved with the fighters in the fight - can bid on the fight.

For this fight, Shaw (Dirrell's promoter) and Goossen (Ward's promoter) are negotiating the fight. Because they have paper on said fighters, no other promoter can come along between now and July 3 and say they will promote the fight, at least not without the permission of the aforemention.

But once the WBC orders the purse bid, any promoter can be present to submit an actual bid on the fight. For example, the WBC (or whomever the sanctioning body is for a particular title fight/eliminator) will announce that a purse bid will be held July 3 in Mexico City. Promoters or their representatives will literally drive/fly/walk to the location and submit the amount they intend to pay for the fight. From there, the highest verified bid is awarded the rights to the fight.

Now for the last part, though perhaps OnePunch can better explain if he's viewing this thread as I'm not 100% sure on this - the winning bid has to include a 10% deposit and a letter of credit verifying they're good for the listed bid amount, and date and location for the fight to be held. The reason for this is to prevent any pauper from submitting an unrealistic bid only to find out they can't afford to stage the event.

Hope that helps, and doesn't actually confuse more.

[JakeNDaBox]

I'm really surprised at the number of posters speaking out against this fight, wishing Froch would instead just fight both.

I understand the concern of it being a stylistic nightmare. But beyond that, this is actually the perfect eliminator. Both fighters are budding bubble contenders, but neither fighter has yet earned a title shot. The winner will have earned that right, and as mentioned earlier, hopefully Froch and Bute will have already fought or at least secured a unification match against one another by then.

Personally, I love the idea of this fight on paper. I might not feel that way once the first bell sounds (if the fight actually happens), but it's one of those fights that certainly sounds good in theory, even if the before and after prove to be more rewarding and relevant than the actual fight itself.

[Boxingwizard]

I agree, if Dirrell has worked his way into the number 1 spot, he should have the right to have a title shot, right? Dirrell/Balszay would be a good match-up, but i'd take the underrated Balszay in that fight.

Also, like someone else mentioned, i'd like Taylor to earn another shot at the title by taking on Ward instead. The winner of that can face the winner of Bute/Froch.

I just cannot see Ward/Dirrell coming off to be honest.

Nah Dirrell is much more talented than Balszay, Dirrell would beat him easily. The problem is the WBO sides with the promoters. For example Zsolt Erdie has been WBO champion for a long time and he rarely fights a mandatory, why? Because his promoter doesn't want him to fight any of the top contenders, not to mention he's a European fighter. If Gary Shaw can somehow strike a deal with Balszay's promoter, yeah the WBO will allow the fight, but most likely Balzsay's promoter will have him fight low-level competition for most of his career just like what Erdie is doing.

[Spirit]

I would hate to see this fight happen now, I was hoping theyd fight in a year or two for an unification match when they have titles. This will suck for the loser of this fight seeing as both havent had a lot of great competition and is likely to fight the same kind of competition to re-establish himself.

[THe TRiNiTY]

I'd pick Ward. I'd also pick that this fight doesn't happen for ATLEAST 3 years.