Although Carl “the Cobra” Froch eked out a victory against Andre “the Matr
ix” Dirrell, proving my prediction wrong, he still left many doubters. Many people felt that he did not do enough to earn the decision against Dirrell. Even worse, many think Froch benefited from some home(town) cooking from the referee (who deducted a point from Dirrell) as well as the ringside judges.
On the other hand, a significant number of boxing experts, namely ESPN.COM’s Dan Rafael, had Froch edging Dirrell. Although I believe that Andre Dirrell did enough to beat Carl Froch, this defeat was not the Bernie Madoff-like robbery that many are making it out to be.
To place this controversial decision in its proper perspective, let’s reminisce over (or forget) these scoring nightmares of superfights past:
- Jose Luis Ramirez W SD Pernell Whitaker, Stade de Levallois, Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine, France, March 12, 1988. Sadly for “Sweat Pea,” this is the first of two appearances on my list.
- Park Si-Hun W (3-2) Roy Jones, Jr., Seoul, South Korea, 1988 Seoul Summer Olympic Games. For the record, this is arguably the worst decision in sports history.Â
- Pernell Whitaker D PTS Julio Cesar Chavez, Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, United States, September 10, 1993. This S.I. cover says it all.
- Lennox Lewis D PTS Evander Holyfield, Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, United States, March 13, 1999. Not as bad as the Whitaker-Chavez “draw,” but it has its own unique foulness.Â
- Courtney Burton W SD Emmanuel Augustus, L.C. Walker Arena, Muskegon, Michigan, United States, July 6, 2004. This was not a superfight by anyone’s standards, but it was super-ugly nonetheless. Teddy Atlas explains it a little better than me.
Did Andre Dirrell get jerked? Probably. Was the decision bad enough to send an appeal to the WBC? Probably not. The most important thing that we learned from Froch-Dirrell is that boxing decisions have not changed much. Hometown fighters get their unfair share of wins in close, distance fights. Many judges overlook the prowess of the slick boxer in favor of the aggression of the puncher or brawler, even if the aggression is ineffective. Other judges are swayed by the old adage, “you must dominate the champion to take his belt.”
Most of the “victims” on my list went on to Hall of Fame careers and in most cases avenged these infamous losses and draws. Like Pernell Whitaker, Andre Dirrell is a slick southpaw with fast hands and seemingly faster feet. The sooner he learns to slow down the feet and engage more, like Whitaker learned to do after his first career loss to Ramirez, he’ll go a long way in protecting himself against “big fight crimes” in the future.
Carl Froch continues his bumpy, undefeated run through the Super Six Middleweight Tourney. His heart and resolve can not be denied. His skills can be. However, until his “0” goes, the Cobra can and will continue to spit verbal venom at his opponents and detractors like me.
Hey dude, great article. I was frustrated to see Froch given a hometown decision and to see a fighter with low skills continue undefeated. However, I just cant see Froch going to far in this tournament. I mean he was rocked by Direll..imagine Abraham punching him! Will and heart can only take you so far, so Froch is more of a ticking bomb that will explode sooner or later. By the way I completely changed my website, which is now http://www.Fightfanforever.com.
P.S: I’m still trying to figure out Abraham…is he just a big puncher or is there some skill behind him. Taylor was able to fustrate him in my opinion. We will see soon enough……….
@Lucio Thanks, and I agree with you about Froch. Styles make fights though, but I tend to agree that Abraham would punish him. I’m still high on Dirrell, and it will be interesting to see how he performs statewide. I think fighting his fight in Oakland may be the difference for Ward when he meets Kessler. We shall see. Abraham is really a strong, durable guy with a very, almost too, patient style wrapped in tight defense. He’s sorta like Winky Wright with more power; he’s gonna be a REAL tough out for anyone. If Dirrell can fight tall for 12 rounds, I could see him decisioning him.
Fenech-Nelson 1 was probably one of the top 10 robberies ever..Has anyone watched it? I had Fenech by a landslide around 117-111..Judges had heavy pockets that night in Vegas..
@darren: That was pretty bad from what I recall; didn’t they initially reward Azumah with the decision then changed it into a draw. I think it was later found out that Azumah had malaria I believe and he bludgeoned Fenech in Australia in the rematch, but I do recall that one.
what’s up guys, Its the jabbster again weighing in on this froch/dirrell thing, “robbery”, what stinking robbery, listen guys as I predicted Andre is a slick little fighter (spoiled) and like most guys his age that has some skills and has been surrounded by a bunch of cheerleaders singing his praises, he believes that the boxing world is simply going to part and let him walk right up the middle just because his name is Dirrell. Guys, what we just witnessed is called”the rude awakening”, we saw a talented young up and coming fighter come un-glued when he realized he was finally in a fight. AD learned that at this level of competition guys are “in it-to win it” and thats just how it is! like Cris Arreola a couple of weeks earlier, he was simply out of his league(for now). I agree that Carl Froch is no master boxer by any stretch of the imagination but he does have discipline and mental fortitude to spank an Andre Dirrell any day of the week(for now). While I certainly feel that AD is the more talented boxer, it was simply too much too soon for the kid. keep your eyes open however, you will see Dirrell mature over course this tournament or you’ll see him get his spirit broken. After what I saw, i’m betting on the latter.
@jabbo, I couldn’t disagree more “jabbo.” Comparing his performance to Arreola’s against Klitschko is way off the mark. Arreola was never in that fight. Dirrell arguable won. Huge difference. It’s a matter of time before Froch not only loses, but gets knocked out. He’s the one we should REALLY keep our eyes on in terms of the likely downward spiral of his career.
Ja, my comparison to the arreola fight certainly wasn’t to indicate that dirrell didn’t perform better than chris overall, but the reference was to demonstrate the simular level of skills by both fighters. while both these guys are “decent” fighters in their own rights, they both lack the level of skill to compete at the level that they fought on in their last outings. Look Ja, its cool to root for the up and coming good looking young prospect but lets get real, how long do you think he would lasted against Abraham. If you keep throwing a softer young (yet talented) prospect up against harder, mentally and physically stronger fighters like these guys You Will See His Spirit Get Broken, thats for sure. It’s like our parents always told us Ja, all good things come in time. And as for Dirrell, wrong place, wrong time.
jabbo, you think dirrell and arreola are of similar skill levels??? simple point: if the dirrell fight against froch was in the us, you wouldn’t even be able to write this user comment. 🙂 that being said, i think ANY of these fighters will have much trouble with abraham, regardless of their experience. if anything, i was more impressed with dirrell’s behavior late in that fight, in the championship rounds, when he appeared in control and was throwing more punches, and even stunned froch in about the 9-10th. not the sign of a fighter who was in over his head, like you said. froch was fortunate to come away with the decision. and i am willing to bet that dirrell does better than him for the remainder of the tourney. it’s all good, you know how to reach me if i’m wrong. 🙂
ja, from what i saw in dirrell’s eyes and his unsteadyness and frustration level, i really don’t beleive this is a kid that will fair well after a coulpe of tough losses, anyway like you said, time will tell and you know where to “hit-up” the jabbmeister.
@jabbo…i’ll definitely get at you about this down the road!
I am so sick and tired of the HBO boxing comments. In particular Harold Lettermen, who at times I could accept his lopsided comments for his favorite fighter and at times not knowing the difference between a left hook and a straight right hand. I just watched the championship, light heavy weight fight between the younger title holder with a reach and height advantage prancing around the ring for twelve rounds with a cup so high that if he got hit with a left hook to the liver, or any other body punch he would never know it because his cup would absorb the punch. A shorter opponent with slower hand speed can only work his way inside and go for the body punches. I saw many body punches landed to the cup. With all the officials commentating never noticing. Has every one of the officials and commentators watched this fight with blindfolds? Where has boxing gone? Good job HBO!!!!!! You’re the best Harold Letterman!!!!!! You swindled the public again.
Philadelphia Andy Williams
PS, I’ve been in and outside the boxing ring my entire life and have earned the right to my opinion
@Andy Williams…Welcome Andy and pretty good insight, but what’s your beef with Harold about? 🙂 Also, what’s your general take on Chad Dawson as a fighter – I’m really interested.
froach Dirrell fight oh my goodness,out of this world decision!,this is my first time to see these guys shame on you(judges) i just want to reiterate that this is not a beauty pagent,its boxing you know what is boxing?…. anyway this carl cant even land a clean punch,outsmarted.doing uncleaned tactics,loosing his composure and in he end he looked like 3 year old toddler making his punches out of no where,slapping punching at the back of the head and yet he won oh oh oh oh ……but dirrel his job sweeping like a thunder and even got froach in serious trouble in the 10th rd and got the spilt oh my goodness maybe these judges are not in this world maybe they came from the world of illussions and fantacies that they do not know reality.ive watched this together with my9 year old son and i asked him who won the fight and this 9 year old boy who is in this world replied the american of course,hey judges wakeup if you want my boy will teach you how to judge
Armando, I thought Dirrell won a close decision but I though the Ali Funeka vs Joan Guzman was MUCH worse (in favor of Guzman). Dirrell did enough things (moving too much and holding) to allow the hometown judges to ‘steal’ the fight from home. Hopefully, he learns his lesson.
Direll got robbed,Froch is overrated and only taylor will finish behind him[thats if he still takes part in the tournament]lots of bad decision this year…collazo beat berto in my book and martinez clearly beat williams in what i call one of my favorite fight of the year….how can we get impartial decision?? maybe by having ex-boxers being recycled as judges??
@patrick: It has indeed been a rough year, however, I wouldn’t say that all of the aforementioned decisions were as bad as you make it seem. Berto-Collazo was a toss-up; I saw it as a draw. I did think Dirrell beat Froch 7 rounds to 5 (or even 8-4 if you’re being generous), but 7-5 is still close. Taylor? Meldrick or Jermain? Seriously, I think Jermain is headed down a similar path as Meldrick if he keeps on fighting (more concussions, slurred words, etc.). It’s sad. Martinez, by no one’s estimation, clearly beat Paul Williams. Sure, he coulda gotten that decision (maybe 7-5) but I had Williams (7-5) and coulda lived with a draw. All in all, it was a great year in boxing – who says it’s dead with Mosley-Berto and MAYWEATHER-PACQUIAO slated for the first quarter of 2010?!?!? I am not a fan of the MGM Grand as the site for Mayweather-Pacquiao but that’s a conversation for a different day or later post. Thanks for writing.