Andre Dirrell Vs James Degale: Boxing’s Best 50-50 Fight Of 2015

By Travis “Novel” Fleming

Saturday, May 23 brings us, perhaps, the most competitive elite level match up of the year so far when two ultra skilled former Olympic medalists duke it out to try and capture their first world title. Live for free on NBC as part of Al Haymon’s “Premiere Boxing Champions” series, Michigan’s Andre “The Matrix” Dirrell, 24-1 16 KO’s, squares off against England’s James “Chunky” Degale, 20-1 14 KO’s. The bout is being held at the Agganis Arena in Boston for the vacant IBF super middleweight world championship belt.

Dirrell and Degale have a lot of similarities that make this fight interesting. They’re both rangy boxer/puncher types with only a half of an inch separating them in height and reach. They’re both southpaws. They’re both hungry for their first world title, and out to prove that they can become the stars that they were expected to be coming out of the Olympics. They’re both amateur stand outs that had career hiccups and injuries that left them inactive, so they’re both trying make up for lost time. They both only have one defeat in bouts where they fell victim to questionable judging (Dirrell outboxed Carl Froch in Froch’s hometown but got robbed by the judges, while Degale at least earned a draw against bitter domestic rival George Groves but Groves was awarded the majority decision). Most intriguing of all, they’re getting older so they’re in an almost “do or die” scenario for that long awaited world title that most fans expected a lot sooner in both mens’ careers. There’s so much on the line in this fight, the loser will be forgotten and sent back to the rebuilding stage where they might never have the time, or the opportunity, to work themselves back into title contention. Because the stakes are so high, expect both men to be at their absolute best. On paper, this is easily the most competitive match up of 2015 and the winner will be crowned the second best super middleweight in the world behind Andre Ward, now that Carl Froch has been inactive for over a year.

Andre Dirrell was an outstanding amateur with 231 wins in the unpaid ranks. He took home a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics after dropping a close decision to current middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, whom Dirrell beat via close decision prior to the Olympics. Turning pro in 2005, he reeled off an impressive 18 straight victories with 13 knockouts before entering the infamous “Super Six World Boxing Classic” super middleweight tournament as a relative novice against the division’s best fighters in 2009. Notable opponents he beat prior to the Super Six tournament include world title challenger Curtis Stevens, Victor Oganov and Derek Findley.

In his first fight of the Super Six World Boxing Classic, Dirrell would travel to Nottingham, England to face undefeated WBC world champion Carl Froch in front of his hometown crowd. To say this was a giant step up in opposition level is an understatement. Dirrell went from never having fought a top ten professional, straight into a fight with the elite of the division, and against its most fearsome puncher in front of his hostile hometown fans. Dirrell showed he was world class and deserving of being included in the tournament by outboxing the champion at home, but as is often the case when fighting an opponent in their hometown and not scoring a knockout, Dirrell was not given the victory on the judges cards. This ensured the judges a safe passage to the arena’s exit while surrounded by rabid Froch fans that would have likely started a riot had their hometown hero lost on the cards.

Dirrell’s next fight in the Super Six would be in March 2010 against the favorite to win the tournament, and former middleweight champion, Arthur Abraham. Abraham was undefeated, he was widely considered to be the hardest puncher pound for pound in boxing, and he was coming off of an impressive knockout of Jermain Taylor in his first bout of the Super Six tournament. This time, Dirrell would be fighting in front of his home crowd in Detroit and he came to show and prove. From the opening bell, Dirrell outboxed, outsped, outslicked, and surprisingly out punched the tournament favorite. On this night, Dirrell looked like he could very well be the best of the division. He knocked the iron chinned Abraham down for the first time in his career, and was well on his way to a lopsided victory in a virtuoso performance when he slipped on a slick spot in a corner in the eleventh round. The slip sent Dirrell to one knee on the canvass and subsequently, the murderous punching Abraham delivered an illegal haymaker that sent Dirrell to the mat in a delayed reaction, where he laid unconscious and shaking. The referee waved off the fight and awarded Dirrell the win via disqualification. In the post fight interview, a clearly dazed Dirrell was extremely upset as he didn’t recall the sequence of events that led to him losing consciousness. Dirrell was unaware that Abraham hit him while he was down from a slip and thought he got knocked out legitimately.

Dirrell was supposed to face his former Olympic teammate, and good friend, Andre Ward in his next bout of the Super Six tournament. Ward, the eventual tournament winner, also entered the tournament as a novice and, like Dirrell, he quickly proved he belonged at the elite level by beating then WBA champion, and Danish legend, Mikkel Kessler. Dirrell declined to face his friend Andre Ward and withdrew from the tournament due to neurological issues suffered as a result of the illegal punch from Abraham. Dirrell took nearly two years off in the prime of his career to heal from the injuries sustained in the Abraham fight, returning on December 30, 2011 to win a second round TKO over Darryl Cunningham.

Since his return from injury, Dirrell has had promotional issues and has only fought sparingly, reeling off four more wins over decent, but not world class, opposition. The move to pull out of the super 6, whether for a legit reason or not, did irreparable damage to Dirrell’s career and reputation.

Dirrell should have been a champion back in 2009 but putting his trust in unproven promoters (**cough cough 50 cent, who also ruined Yuriorkis Gamboa’s and James Kirkland’s careers), and making poor business decisions has left the insanely talented fighter on the outside looking in. Not just world titles, but quality opposition has also evaded Dirrell since he withdrew from the Super Six tournament. Dirrell got wise to the fact that his promoter wasn’t connected enough to stear him towards big fights and therefore ditched 50 cent to link up with boxing’s most powerful man Al Haymon. Now finally, seven years after he should have been crowned a champion, he is getting the opportunity to achieve his life long dream against James Degale.
In his last fight in December of 2014, Dirrell won a lopsided decision over Derek Edwards who knocked out current WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack in the first round in his previous bout. Ironically, just a couple of weeks ago, Badou Jack upset Andre’s brother Anthony to capture his world title and kill the brothers’ dream of simultaneously holding world titles in the same weight division. Andre is the far more talented fighter, so it really is shocking that his underwhelming brother was able to call himself a champion before Andre, who is running out of time at 31 years old.

29 year old James Degale was another elite level amateur, capping off his amateur career with the highest achievement in amateur boxing when he won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He turned pro in 2009 and was considered to be on the fast track to a professional world title. It wasn’t if, but when Degale would win his professional world title to become Britain’s first Olympic gold medalist to capture a championship in the pro ranks.

Degale went 10-0 with 8 KO’s against good opposition for a novice in the pro ranks, including an impressive TKO win over Paul Smith. After getting stopped by Degale, Smith would make the novice Degale’s win look even more spectacular by putting together a string of wins that earned him a title shot against WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham. Smith lost a close decision to Abraham in front of Abraham’s home crowd, but most fans felt Smith deserved to win the world title and was robbed by the notoriously corrupt German judges. Smith would lose in a rematch with Abraham, but is now lined up to face the second best fighter on earth behind Floyd Mayweather Jr in Andre Ward, who much like Dirrell and Degale has been forced into a long period of inactivity.

In his eleventh bout, Degale would square off with future two time world title challenger, and bitter domestic rival, George Groves. Groves was one of the few to beat Degale as an amateur, but Groves never went on to become an Olympic champion and, therefore, he didn’t enter the pro ranks with as much fanfare or high expectations. Groves, like Degale, was also undefeated in the pro ranks at 12-0 with 10 KO’s, but most expected Degale to erase his amateur loss with a convincing professional win over Groves. The lead up to the fight was full of animosity and trash talk, and the fight was an exciting and competitive battle. Groves was wobbled in the third and was cut badly in the eleventh round, but boxed stylishly throughout the fight to earn a controversial decision win. Many felt that Degale deserved the decision on his cleaner, harder blows, but the fight was very competitive. Groves would go on to amass a record of 19-0 with 15 KO’s, before having two world title fights against Carl Froch. In both fights against Froch, Groves was outboxing the three time world champion before getting caught and knocked out in the last quarter of the fight by the power punching cobra of Nottingham.

Degale has gone undefeated since the controversial loss to Groves, and in order to earn a world title shot against Carl Froch, he had an excellent 2014, scoring knockout wins over highly rated fellow contenders Brandon Gonzalez and Marco Antonio Periban. At 20-1 with 14 KO’s, Degale was made the mandatory challenger for Carl Froch’s IBF super middleweight title, but after a long career full of ring wars, and pondering retirement, the 37 year old Froch decided to vacate his IBF world title instead of facing Degale. Froch has fought the best of the best, back to back, for many years now and has earned the right to pick and choose who he fights. Froch only has one or two more fights left in him and will only step back in the ring for big money, against a big name opponent. Degale is a high risk stylistically and doesn’t provide Froch with a big enough payday to risk coming out of temporary retirement. As a result of Froch pulling out, Degale was given the next highest rated IBF opponent for the vacant title, which just happened to be his American counterpart, and former Froch opponent, Andre Dirrell.
Andre Dirrell is nicknamed “the Matrix” for a good reason. He has an uncanny ability to see punches coming, avoid them, and return his own shots in between. He’s got excellent defense, coupled with incredibly fast hands and legs. He has good power in both hands and a very high ring IQ, having over 250 bouts combined in the pro and amateur ranks. Dirrell is a defensive wizard, but also very capable offensively with his blazing handspeed. His chin and heart have been questioned, but I feel they have passed the test due to him taking clean shots from murderous punchers like Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham and Gennady Golovkin without wavering. Dirrell has it all, but injuries and poor business decisions have cost him five years in the prime of his career. He will be hungry to ensure his abundance of talent doesn’t go to waste before it’s too late.

James Degale is another very complete fighter. He’s two years younger than Dirrell at 29, but has also been plagued by injuries and layoffs that have threatened his promising career. He’s roughly the same size in height and reach as Dirrell and, like Dirrell, he is also a southpaw. Degale has heavy hands, good handspeed, and he is the prototypical boxer/puncher. He has solid defense, a great punch variety, and he can take a big punch without flinching.

Dirrell’s fights with Froch and Abraham are of a higher quality of opposition than anyone Degale has faced, but that was five years ago and since then, Degale has been fighting the higher level of opposition with TKO’s of Brandon Gonzalez and Marco Antonio Periban. With Degale having a storied amateur career as well, I don’t think either man will have the experience edge.
Don’t expect a slugfest or a toe to toe war, these guys are too smart and too skilled for that, expect an intense high level chess match with both men reaching deep into their bag of tricks until one’s sublime skill set proves too polished for the others’. Degale appears to have a slightly harder punch, while Dirrell appears to have the edge in hand, and foot speed. Degale has a higher punch output while Dirrell is the better defensive fighter, with better accuracy.

If Dirrell is in the same form he was in for his dominating win against an undefeated Arthur Abraham, expect him to make up for his brother Anthony’s poor showing in losing his world title to Badou Jack just a couple weeks back. Degale will land the hardest blows of the contest, but Dirrell’s ability to avoid punches, coupled with his accuracy, will lead to him scoring more often en route to a close decision win.

The winner of this fight will establish himself as the second best super middleweight in the world behind Andre Ward. Ward has been inactive, and is making his return in a soft tune up bout against former Degale knockout victim, and two time world title challenger, Paul Smith on June 20. Expect Ward to shake off his ring rust with an easy win to set up a higher level tune up bout in a couple of months. By the end of the year, Ward will be ready to face the best again, and the winner of this fight presents the biggest challenge for Ward at super middleweight. If Degale wins, then a Ward fight is very likely by the end of the year. If Dirrell wins, I’m not so sure that a Ward vs Dirrell fight will happen as they’re old friends that have already botched a previous attempt to fight each other in the Super Six tournament. It’s a shame, because even before Ward emerged as the best super middleweight, and the second best pound for pound fighter, in the world, I always felt that Dirrell would be his toughest stylistic challenge from 160-175lbs, but we may never get to see that fight.

Since Ward won’t be ready to face the winner until later this year at the earliest, the winner will have to take one, possibly two more fights as he awaits his shot at the kingpin. There’s a lot of great options for both men. If Dirrell wins, the most attractive fight would be a unification bout against WBC champion Badou Jack. Jack just won his title off of Andre’s brother Anthony, so it would be a redemption fight with two world titles at stake, and it would be a very easy fight to make as both men are with Al Haymon and fighting in his “Premiere Boxing Champions” series. If Degale wins, he will set up a massive rematch against bitter domestic rival George Groves. Degale vs Groves 2 would be a giant fight in England and it would be a chance for Degale to get revenge, as many felt he deserved the decision in the first fight when Groves handed him his only career defeat. On the flipside, Degale vs Jack and Dirrell vs Groves are also good fights of great significance for the winner.

Another interesting opponent for the winner would be a unification fight with WBA regular super middleweight title holder Fedor Chudinov who is coming off of an impressive upset win over Felix Sturm in only his thirteenth pro fight.

A rematch with WBO champion Arthur Abraham would be an excellent opportunity for revenge by Dirrell if he were to beat Degale, but Abraham is once again fighting Robert Stieglitz for what seems like the tenth time, and chances are that Stieglitz wrestles the belt back and sets up yet another Abraham vs Stieglitz bout so he can pass the title back and forth with Arthur some more. These two having been passing the title back and forth for years now in between beating pathetic mandatory challengers, and they seem content to leave the title in their circle until they retire. The German fans seem to believe that Abraham and Stieglitz are both legitimate champions so they keep paying for their sold out, underwhelming “championship” turnovers and as a result, it’s doubtful that the Dirrell vs Degale winner will ever get a crack at the weakest world title at super middleweight when Stieglitz and Abraham can just keep making money and winning championships by fighting each other every few months.

If Dirrell were to win convincingly, he might even be able to convince Gennady “GGG” Golovkin to move up from middleweight to challenge him. Golovkin and Dirrell have unfinished business from the amateurs where they each hold a win in two very closely contested battles. Golovkin, with his extremely powerful hands, has had a lot of trouble getting anyone elite into the ring with him. Dirrell would gladly take that fight against the popular Golovkin knowing that he’s had success against GGG as an amateur and was able to withstand his crunching power. It would be a big payday for Dirrell and a ticket to superstardom with a win over the highly regarded Kazakh. If GGG cannot get a top level middleweight in the ring, Dirrell might be his best option for a credible career defining victory, and a world title in a second weight division.

The winner of this fight has the world in the palm of his hands. He has a plethora of options for big money fights, title unifications and redemption. The loser will go back to the rebuilding phase and may never be afforded this kind of opportunity again. That is why this 50-50 fight is so great and needs to be given the attention it deserves. It’s all on the line for both men, making this a must see for fans of the sweet science. Often mismatches like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs James Kirkland receive an over abundance of coverage, while competitive fights between top tier fighters that don’t have the same popularity are swept under the rug. Don’t be fooled by the media hype machine, if you love competitive fights between evenly matched foes with no predetermined winner, then Degale vs Dirrell is the fight for you and luckily you get it for free on major network television on May 23. I urge you all to tune in to NBC.

Official Prediction: Andre Dirrell by close decision.