Froch Scrapes Home
Carl Froch won a split decision against Andre Dirrell in a very close, awkward fight in Nottingham.
It was indeed a very difficult fight to score but the feeling in the arena was that Froch had done enough. However, a fair few commentators and observers felt that Dirrell had done enough to come away with the victory.
I scored the fight 115-115 which would also have seen Froch retain his title. However, an argument for either man winning could easily be made.
So Froch made a winning start to the Super Six tournament whilst also retaining his WBC super middleweight title.
The fight started off with both fighters being very cagey, not wanting to commit. Froch edged forward whilst Dirrell backed off. Exchanges were few and far between in the first 2 or 3 rounds and it seemed that Dirrell was slightly edging things as Froch struggled to land with anything of note.
Dirrell seemed to be catching Froch with the odd clean shot whilst making Froch miss with most of his punches as we went through rounds 4 to 6.
As we passed the halfway mark Froch seemed to be closing the gap ever so slightly and would get through with the odd clean shot as well as the odd untidy or glancing blow. It looked like Dirrell may be tiring as he constantly looked to hold and refused to engage with Carl. Andre was also deducted a point in the ninth round for holding, which did look a bit harsh. He was guilty of holding during the fight but in the ninth it didn't seem any more than normal and he wasn't warned.
This seemed to bolster Froch but Dirrell landed a solid shot toward the end of this round which looked hurtful. Froch took it well though and was keen to fire back.
Dirrell then seemed to stop being so negative as the fight neared the end and was letting more punches go. It looked like Dirrell clearly won the 11th.
Going into the last round it was looking close and perhaps could decide the fight outcome. Froch pressed relentlessly forward and Dirrell tried to catch Carl with shots. Froch was having some success in a decent round that saw both fighters land some punches.
Although I scored the fight a draw I had no problem with Froch being declared the winner. He was the aggressor throughout and he was the one who wanted to fight. Dirrell, as is his prerogative, chose to try to win by hitting and holding and avoiding confrontation.
I think Dirrell needs to be more assertive and positive in his style in the future if he is to progress in this tournament.This fight also showed how Froch can be out boxed. The way things look at the moment I think you'd have to have Kessler and Abraham as tournament favourites.