Can we all agree that this will be Arthur Abraham's toughest opponent to date?

[FloydTBE]

toughest indeed

hopefully we'll be seeing a focused dirrell come fight night

Hopefully we will..

[dc6112]

I believe on par with Miranda. Let us see how this will play out. I am also a fan of Andre but I can't help but think this will be a beatdown rounds 5 upwards. We'll see.

I don't see Miranda even then being comparable in any way to Dirrell, except for having more power. And that was a Miranda who was starting to have trouble making 160 and because of that had power that was arguably fading at middleweight.

[ragingvic]

You got to realize though he didnt need the ko to beat JT, he was winning on the cards because he was outboxing him. And gevor pretty much got robbed against sturm so hes definetly above an average European challenger.

[Sweet Jesus]

Miranda beat AA in their first fight. Abraham got some nice Ottke treatment in that fight.

[dc6112]

You got to realize though he didnt need the ko to beat JT, he was winning on the cards because he was outboxing him. And gevor pretty much got robbed against sturm so hes definetly above an average European challenger.

I agree he was outboxing him. What I was saying is that that doesn't mean very much given Jermain's very recent past. As far as Gevor, what I meant by mid-level contender was middle of the top 10 in the middleweight division. I should have been more clear. It was certainly a legit win, I just don't rank it higher than the JT or Miranda wins.

[Clint650]

His top 3 challenges have been:

1. Edison Miranda I- this is when Miranda had all the confidence in the world, and was feared on a level much higher than he is today. That fight was very close. Many people thought Miranda won. Miranda doesn't pose the challenges in foot and hand speed Dirrell will though. Nor did he have any defense, and still went 12 with Arthur. Their second fight was after he was demolished by Pavlik, and I don't believe Miranda was the same after that night.

2. Jermain Taylor- A great fighter but clearly not the same fighter after being stopped by Pavlik, and then by Froch. Many would agree that Taylor was a mere shell of the man who beat Hopkins half a decade ago. Certainly against Abraham, Jermain was not on par with the challenge Dirrell will pose.

3. Khoren Gevor- I don't know much about this man other than what I've heard, which is that he's a decent European challenger in the middleweight division. AA knocked this guy out in brutal fashion. But he is nowhere near the complete fighter Dirrell is.

The point here is that Abraham's skill is a bit over rated. His best wins are a controversial points decision over a guy who had maybe 10% of the boxing ability that Dirrell has. His second win was over a man whose self-confidence couldn't have been lower. And his third fight was against a man who was a mid-level contender in a very weak MW division. All of these fights were over after the last bell or in the championship rounds(Gevor was KO'd in the 11th, correct).

That all said, he does have KO power, but after looking at who he's beat and how long it's taken, do you believe that Abraham has ever faced any challenge close to the one he will face this weekend? Many will agree if he doesn't win by KO, he doesn't win at all.

true, but it's not the fact that Abraham won, it's in the way he beat these men. in the way his style gave these guys problems, and how he seems to be in much better form @ super middle than he was @ 160. with this logic you can discredit a lot of fighters, but i know Abraham will once again silence his critics. im having flashbacks of the pre-fight hype from the Taylor match, when about 80/85 % of the boxing fans on here said Taylor would expose Abraham (because he's a better boxer and he's faster).