James DeGale vs Andre Dirrell Fight Preview
By George A. Dampeer, Real Combat Media DE/Washington DC Correspondent
Boston, MA ( May 19th, 2015)– Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions continues this Saturday with a IBF super middleweight championship bout between “The Ring Magazine”, ranked James DeGale(#4) of England, against Andre Dirrell(#7) on NBC at 4:30pm E.T. The fight will take place at the Agganis Arena in Boston, M.A. for the vacant title.
Boxing insiders and fans alike are intrigued with this match up due to the similarities of the two fighters . Both fighters are olympic medalists. DeGale received gold for Great Britain in China 2008 and Dirrell winning bronze in the 2004 Athens olympics. Both fighters are southpaws and have suffered only one defeat. They also fought three times last year, DeGale riding off of 3 consecutive knockouts, and Dirrell’s last 2 out of 3 victories have ended by TKO. They are almost mere images of each other; Speed just about equal, both equally skilled boxers, and power is the same as in regards to KOs ending with more of a burgage of punches rather than one punch knockout power. An advantage although could go to DeGale being the fighter more likely to hurt other fighters on the short exchanges.
Perhaps another reason for excitement of the bout is the desire of both fighters to win this fight in particular. Each fighter sees this as a huge stepping stone for their future. Dirrell personally would see a victory as a huge redemption for his career, after his loss to Carl Froch and the long lay off he took afterwards. He mentioned that he wants to not only win, but to look good doing so. Dirrell will have to get in the best training and conditioning if he plans to look good as well as look good . His victories have come off softball opposition and with the quality he faces on Saturday he will need to be the Andre Dirrell of old. This element alone could be telling in the outcome of the fight which James DeGale looks to take advantage.
DeGale is fully aware of his position in this fight, as he comes across the Atlantic to win a title on his oppostion’s home soil. James, who in his native England fights as the favorite on most occasions, comes in as an underdog and his thrilled by it. He says although he would love to fight in his home town and win a title in front of his fans, DeGale would rather fight in the United States because he’s buzzing about the opportunity to fight for more money and the chance to beat Dirrell on his home country. He feels if the fight were to be held in England that the fight wouldn’t earn him as much money as Al Haymon’s 3.1 million bid compared to Sky Sports’s bid.
The confidence of both fighters is another point to note as far as an intriguing fight goes. Dirrell often speaks of the fight in past tense as if he has won the fight, and DeGale already has in mind the defenses he would like to make once he wins the title. However there is still a fight that has yet to be fought and the winner of the bout will have to what they do best with their skill sets. The first thing to look for in this fight will be who takes the lead. It’s safe to assume that Dirrell will look to box, move, and look to counter. Like his brother, it’s been his bread and butter in the past and no reason to think otherwise. That leaves DeGale looking walk down Dirrell to get in range. From here it will be vital on who take the lead from this point. With speed being equal, which fighter loses the edge as far as their game plan goes? If indeed Dirrell looks to counter, it could go against him by way of taking more shots in order to find his openings. Same can be the other way around, but you would favor DeGale hurting Dirrell if the fight ended in a stoppage.
All in all, the fight comes down to which fighter can handle a reflection of themselves better. Whoever can do that will the 168 title in their hands by the end of the night.
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