Super Six: Froch Splits Dirrell; Abraham Drills Taylor

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Jake Donovan - Going in, the matchup between unbeaten super middleweights Carl Froch and Andre Dirrell was the one fight among the Stage One matchups that was deemed by most experts as a true pick-‘em.

The split decision verdict by night’s end justified such claims, with Froch barely escaping with a close, and inevitably debatable nod Saturday evening at the Trent FM Arena in his hometown of Nottingham, England.

The bout aired live on American cable network Showtime.

Both fighters were tentative in the opening round. Dirrell sought an outside fight and made sure to keep the heavy-handed Froch at the end of his long jab. The strategy worked well for the first two minutes, until Dirrell switched to southpaw for no apparent reason. Froch enjoyed his best moments of the fight, landing to the body and forcing Dirrell into retreat mode.

The first round saw Dirrell switch from righty to lefty for the sake of switching; round two saw the American effectively jab out of the southpaw stance, to which Froch was unable to adjust. Dirrell switched back to righty mainly for defensive purposes late in the round, slipping all of the punches of an onrushing Froch.

Dirrell came out purposeful in the third, landing a jab and a hard straight left to open the round. A clinch followed, prompting referee Hector Afu to order a break. The call went ignored by Froch, who landed a blow as the two were being separated, drawing a warning from the third man. [details]

[Boss Don]

i told everyone my boy Abraham was going to take it all i said he was going to knock out Taylor late and look what happen and now i say he is going to knock Dirrell out around the 8th or 9th round and i really like Dirrell i think he was robbed against Froch i thought Dirrell clearly won the fight but King Arthur Abraham is the truth and Dirrell is not ready for him yet at least not his next fight but he has to fight him so we will see what happens

[Freddy Krueger]

So which judges did Froch give oral sex to? When did we start giving rounds to fighters for punching air? How did he like Dirrells jab in his face and Dirrells left hooks?

[STILL_DETOX]

misleading title....splits dirrell?

[mikenorfcutt7]

andre ward will take this tourney hands down.. kessler is one dimensional and will be easy 12 round work for ward. froch is a joke. outclassed and outworked by a prospect over 12 rounds and really believes he is as good as he thinks... smh... abraham is tough but taylor is "tailor made" for punchers and is washed. abraham wont beat dirrell. not a chance dirrell is too quick accurate and reach and height will make the difference. froch will get dominated by abrahm easy ko for king arthur there

[IIocano]

Very fast for the author to write an article but still waiting on the punch stats.....WTF!!

[D.I.E.S.E.L]

misleading title....splits dirrell?

both very good fights. Split Decision.


That was one huge point Dirrell got taken away

[emhoffk]

Wow - what a bull**** decision

Maybe I'll have to watch it again but I completely agree with the above comment that when did we start awarding rounds for missing punches and getting hit with jabs and straight lefts to the body. It was honestly hard to give Froch a round - period - honestly! He might have landed one or two shots in a few rounds but he was outthrown and outlanded in almost every round. It goes to show you how much a home crowd influences judges. Dirrell definitely needs to stop holding so much and also just plain fleeing at times. But no matter how ugly it looked it was effective - Froch couldn't put anything together and Dirrell landed nearly all the big shots. This was a massive robbery.

[Odawg]

you know what, some people here need to go to google, then search for information on how to score a boxing match, then re watch the fight! im happy to see after reading through the comments aroun 95% of people are say dirrell cleary wont the fight, people are saying dirrell was negative by running GO WATCH SONNY LISTON V ALI1! SO ALI WAS LOSIN THOS E FIRST ROUNDS BECAUSE HIM BEING ELUSIVE WAS NEGATIVE? dont blame a boxer for boxing! i mean cmon really who you tryna fool... theres boxers, sluggers, combination punchers ect. dirrells a boxer, and thats what he did, and some ppl are saying he runs like floyd, but although floyd is a great fighter, he throws single shots and counterpunchers all night, he rarely engages, hes all defense, him v marquez was alot worse than this, i actually enjoeyed the fight and think if dirrell had more experience he would have turned on the heat more. when would you ever see floyd sign into a tourney like this hed have an excuse lol. jus good to see some people on here know there boxin dirrell 9 rounds 1 possible even at a push and 2 froch. to be honest i could have scored every round dirrell. straight up

[Boss Don]

andre ward will take this tourney hands down.. kessler is one dimensional and will be easy 12 round work for ward. froch is a joke. outclassed and outworked by a prospect over 12 rounds and really believes he is as good as he thinks... smh... abraham is tough but taylor is "tailor made" for punchers and is washed. abraham wont beat dirrell. not a chance dirrell is too quick accurate and reach and height will make the difference. froch will get dominated by abrahm easy ko for king arthur there

Dirrell might be tall but he has no defense he relies on slipping punches not blocking them and he could slip Froch punches easy becuase Froch would throw one wide left hook as for when Abraham opens up he throws combinations and would catch Dirrell while he is leaning back on the ropes or when he gets sloppy with those straight left hands then its lights out