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By Thomas Gerbasi - For the first five minutes of his May 23 bout with James DeGale at Boston’s Agganis Arena, Andre Dirrell thought picking up the vacant IBF super middleweight title was going to be a mere formality.
“First round, he came out and threw that looping left hand a few times and I kinda rolled and I’m just like ‘this is gonna be an easy night,’” Dirrell chuckled. “Second round, my confidence was up another level, and somewhere in that mix I let my guard down, and the next thing you know, I’m getting off the mat.”
His first reaction?
“Oh my goodness.”
The next was to get up, and almost as soon as DeGale’s thudding left cross crashed into his chin, the 2004 U.S. Olympian was back on his feet. A second, more questionable, knockdown followed, and just like that, Dirrell went from leading the dance to being on the wrong end of a 10-7 round. As he went back to his corner, his mind was clear.
“It’s time to fight,” he recalled when asked his thoughts after suffering two knockdowns against the Brit. “It was difficult to take because I felt like I was gonna breeze through that fight after the first round, I really did. He (DeGale) brought a whole different Andre Dirrell out once that happened.” [Click Here To Read More]
“First round, he came out and threw that looping left hand a few times and I kinda rolled and I’m just like ‘this is gonna be an easy night,’” Dirrell chuckled. “Second round, my confidence was up another level, and somewhere in that mix I let my guard down, and the next thing you know, I’m getting off the mat.”
His first reaction?
“Oh my goodness.”
The next was to get up, and almost as soon as DeGale’s thudding left cross crashed into his chin, the 2004 U.S. Olympian was back on his feet. A second, more questionable, knockdown followed, and just like that, Dirrell went from leading the dance to being on the wrong end of a 10-7 round. As he went back to his corner, his mind was clear.
“It’s time to fight,” he recalled when asked his thoughts after suffering two knockdowns against the Brit. “It was difficult to take because I felt like I was gonna breeze through that fight after the first round, I really did. He (DeGale) brought a whole different Andre Dirrell out once that happened.” [Click Here To Read More]
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