Dirrell v Degale

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This looks like it could be a great fight. Degale looks like his head is in the right place and very confident but a Dirrell at his best is pure world class..

I can see Degale giving him a hard hard time and maybe even getting the better if he is on his game, but still nervous about him getting a decision out there. Also is it me or does Dirrell looks a bit skinny at the weight?

So Hard to call. Heart Says Degale within 9 or 10 rounds, head Says Dirrell in a close UD or SD... getting the home decision.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:The other two cards were spot in my opinion, the lead after six was huge and the last two rounds were both Degales.

I couldn't agree more. I can't see how anyone can give it to Dirrell.

Razor close due to 2 knock downs delighted for Degale. Score cards were a joke, Degale needed that last round to have a chance of winning. Go Chunky!!

Mobile your the only one that think so....

Haymon invested in the card, Matchroom invested in the judges. Good move. Will earn it back when Froch agrees to fight DeGale at Wembley

Is everyone forgetting that Degale was 6 rounds after four, you have to box a perfect fight after that to claw it back and the last couple swinged it.

Olly wrote:117-109 - is that judge on weed

I'm on weed and trust me I had it waaay closer! Had James nicking it brilliant fight!

I thought Degale won by a round so by two, seems OK. But, what was the Canadian judge watching?

It still looked like Degale had reverted to old, bad habits. He really needs to think about this. He won't get so lucky next time.

He had Dirrell in all sorts of trouble. He was arguing with his corner etc. So, sitting off him after was just stupidity.

I know he's naturally a counterpuncher but Dirrel has fast hands and a reach advantage. So, giving him distance is just suicidal.

Anyway, obviously the boxing masters realised Degale is a better financial prospect.

Good for him!

Degale just.

Like Watt said you can't expect to win a world title on the backfoot unless you are making your opponent miss and tagging him. The ko was the only thing separating them both. Dirrell did well to come back.

Lance wrote:Haymon invested in the card, Matchroom invested in the judges. Good move. Will earn it back when Froch agrees to fight DeGale at Wembley

That's not going to happen. I assume you jest.

Poor scoring from the Canadian, i had it by 2 for Dirrell in the end. Still well done to Degale not easy to go abroad and win a title. Pretty sad to think though that if a UK fighter had fought at home as well as Dirrell did in the 2nd half of that fight there is no way he is not winning, fair play to the yanks.

DeGale won that for me. He had a couple of massive rounds whereas Dirrelle picked up the middle rounds but tailed off at the end.

DeGale Froch will happen. Hearn invested in Brook only to mess up the Khan fight. He will get Froch up for this one now

I didn't score the match but I'm slightly surprised chunky won. I'd guess direll by 1. I think I gave degale three rounds including a 10-7.

Typical Degale really just always seems to lose his way at some point. Great win though!

The commentary was shocking, they were watching a different fight to me

Lance wrote:DeGale Froch will happen. Hearn invested in Brook only to mess up the Khan fight. He will get Froch up for this one now

We will see but I seriously doubt it. Groves is more likely, easier fight to sell, grudge match etc. It wouldn't excite Froch so I just can't see it happening. Put it this way, it could already have happened for the IBF title so why would Froch now be interested? It's a fight he could potentially lose whereas the GGG fight gives him a whole new "legend" status to retire on, DeGale doesn't.

3fingers wrote:The commentary was shocking, they were watching a different fight to me

They were again, but if you compare it to last fight night, then they did a pretty good job.....

Due to technical difficulties I only managed to see the second half of the fight, so will need to watch the recording re scoring. Having seen the knockdown, have to give credit to dirrell... Laid a lot of those questions about his heart to rest. Certainly not the stinker we thought it might be.

Dirrell gets massive props, to get up and to come back like that was amazing, he will come back for sure, just needs to get straight back in the ring and not have another long layoff

The Rodriguez fight now is interesting.

I thought baker was hard done by. He was covering up and not taking a lot clean

My brother rarely watches boxing he had it level. I had Degale up by a round.

The general opinion is, it was close either way.

So how the hell could a judge have it that wide? What is he basing his scoring on?

Is he watching porn on his phone or something? Really, no way in hell was it that wide.

Yes after a good fight, I'd prefer to bitch and moan about sh.t judging

AdamT wrote:My brother rarely watches boxing he had it level. I had Degale up by a round.

The general opinion is, it was close either way.

So how the hell could a judge have it that wide? What is he basing his scoring on?

Is he watching porn on his phone or something? Really, no way in hell was it that wide.

Yes after a good fight, I'd prefer to bitch and moan about sh.t judging

We have ridiculous scorecards every week, thankfully this particular one didn't affect the overall result, the Omar Figueroa Jr scorecards were horrendous a few weeks back

Degale was always the more lucrative winner.

We now have the prospect of a Watson-Benn-Eubank scenario. All Wembley stadium fights.

unification with groves and then a fight with froch. Or froch fights one of the titlists and then unification. Providing groves wins.

Very disappointed with De Gale's stamina tonight, even when he was on top he wasn't busy. If it wasn't for the knockdowns, it was a 10-9 round for Dirrell in the second and the fight would have comfortably gone the other way. I don't mean to suggest Dirrell is an easy customer, because he is very tricky... But he thoroughly out worked De Gale in the second half of the fight. Work rate is the very minimum you expect at world level, so I hope he learns from this.

AdamT wrote:My brother rarely watches boxing he had it level. I had Degale up by a round.

The general opinion is, it was close either way.

So how the hell could a judge have it that wide? What is he basing his scoring on?

Is he watching porn on his phone or something? Really, no way in hell was it that wide.

Yes after a good fight, I'd prefer to bitch and moan about sh.t judging

To be fair while Dirrell was clawing his way back in, for me he only really had about 3 rounds where he clearly won there were a few close rounds and Degale was allways moving on his feet, for me Degale won it by one round, maybe 2. But I think he put to much energy in after Dirrell was hurt, he could have nicked the rounds after but I think he was trying to stop him and this made him gas a little..

degale by three for me. definitely stamina issues though, froch would destroy degale late on with his relentless, warrior style. lets not get carried away, dirrell is nothing special

LiamB wrote:degale by three for me. definitely stamina issues though, froch would destroy degale late on with his relentless, warrior style. lets not get carried away, dirrell is nothing special

Not so sure about that tbh, Dirrell is very good Degale is just very good as well

Didn't see the fight but I am a little surprised DeGale did so well, I thought Dirrell was going to burst his bubble, Chunky on that result is a better fighter than I gave him credit for. Nice to see he still wears DS on his shorts.

Redrage, if it wasn't for the knockdowns then yes it would have been Dirrel's round. But he did knock him down. Twice. And then he won the fight. Can't say how it would have gone if he didn't lay him out. Could have been a one sided beat down, or a similar story from 5 onwards. Revisionism is unnecessary in the light of what actually happened!

Nobody is revising anything, just pointing out the obvious that Dirrell was winning that round and three as well before Chunky landed good shots to turn them. It was narrow on most observers cards, the knockdowns were crucial. For me this underlines that wasn't busy enough for most of the fight and he won't get away with that very often. He needs to take that on board if he is to remains champion for a long time.

Yes, but that is a ridiculous comment in boxing. If Marciano hadn't knocked out Walcott, Walcott would have won. Or if hearns was way ahead, so Barkley knocking him out was a technicality.

I can get people questioning the scoring or the ref but not 'if he hasn't achieved one of the aims of boxing, knocking him down'...

I think a lot of people including the judges have given the rounds where degale finished strong in the last 10 to 30 seconds to him whereas I didn't. There was a lot of close rounds, and I plumed for dirreL as the agressor, busier, and faster/sharper fighter. There was a lot of inactivity and circling from degale. It was a good fight nonetheless but I'd pick dirrel in the rematch...He's simply the better boxer.

And chunkys power fades fast.

I'm not sure I like the point deduction for every knocknown system. For me a 10-8 round is ample. If we accept boxing is a collection of 12 mini contests then its a shame 1 round can effect the other 11 so much.

Didn't watch the fight but I'm delighted at the result. Mainly because of Steffan's weird Chunky love

Now I've recovered may as well add in that it was actually a pretty good fight to watch and Dirrell should get credit for how he came back and showed serious balls.

Had it a draw but no issues with 2 of the cards. The 117-109 card was an absolute shocker and he needs to be taken to an abandoned warehouse and shot.

I had Degale just winning but wouldn't have argued with a draw or close win for Dirrell.

Degale was so frustrating with his inactivity in the second half of the fight. There were some rounds where he probably only threw 10 punches!

A good but very frustrating fight truth be told, both of them can be very proud of their performances for different reasons and Dirrell really did prove a lot of people myself included wrong.

I don't see a way in which you could score the fight for Dirrell however, the lead after four rounds was too big to claw back and having looked to have thrown the fight away Degale stepped it up like a true champ in the final two. There's no arguments from me that Dirrell swept rounds 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 but that 10-7 in round three was ultimately the difference.

Not too sure what happened with Degale after the third to be honest, he hadn't thrown enough to be gassing, was in complete control so didn't need to rest on his laurels and was rocking Dirrell every time he landed. The first four were the new improved Degale, throwing with spite and intent then the old habits started to resurface for no reason but thankfully he clicked back into gear just in time.

Dirrell's display of guts to come back from what looked like a heavy knockdown was the real surprise of the night and he's made himself a player in the division again. I think he'll have won a few new fans on that showing,  I think fans will be wanting to tune in to watch him fight what a difference one fight makes. If it was a fifteen rounder I'd fancy Dirrell to have won it, showing the better stamina(though DeGale may have been pacing himself in the later rounds,) starting to shrug off DeGale's punches and still had some venom in the left hand.

Chunky pulled out a helluva punch in the second just as it was looking like he may be in for a tough night, a fight changing punch. He produced it just when he needed to as you felt Dirrell was  building a head of steam. But that's a sign of class to produce just bang when you have to.

The left hand looks a weapon, at least in the first half, be interesting to see him in with one of the chins Abraham, Kessler or Froch, you feel Froch would take over in the second half if they met but he can't afford to be sloppy earl on, ultra cautious early on then rip him to bits down the stretch.

Having now watched the whole fight I think degale nicked it but there were a few swing rounds that could give a win to dirrell or a wider win to degale.

Hammy, rounds 1 and 4 could have gone either way I felt, and that gives dirrell a win on your card.

Ultimately, you have to give dirrell the benefit in all the tight rounds to get him winning, if you share the tight rounds degale gets it for me.

Dirrell outworked him, pushed the fight but ultimately gassed in sight of the finish line. Degale just had enough left in the tank.

114-112 cards you can't argue with. The Canadian judge should be thanked for his contribution, given a gold plated watch and asked to hang up his pencil.

... Or just shot as coxy suggests, and keep the watch

I can see where people are coming from who thought Dirrell may have just nicked it, I may watch it back with the sound turned down, though personally I feel Dirrell just needed to hurt DeGale a little bit more than he did. The right man won it for me. The knockdown was heavy.

I had De Gale by a round. He completely coasted the fight after round 4/5 which was infuriating to watch. he could have taken him out by 6/7 if he'd kept on the gas, but I think after round 2 he obviously felt he had the fight wrapped up. Credit to Dirrell for coming back into it in the second half, but imo it was more DeGale letting him back in rather than him forcing the fight. Anyway, its still a tremendous achievement for DeGale.

Had it to Degale by at least 3 rounds.............Well done to him..........A little wild at times but did what he had to do..........

As for Dirrell he should go to Sheffield and be an Ingle fighter he'd fit in well...........

Did you not think degale was a bit of a stinky runner at times last night trussy?

Cracking fight last night, very close and could have gone either way as Chunky looked like he'd decided to coast the last few or ran out of gas (His punches looked like they'd lost their power) Was up and shouting when he was announced the winner (Yes i'd had a few )

Wouldn't mind seeing it again too and hope he doesn't go near Froch.

Well done JD

LiamB wrote:degale by three for me. definitely stamina issues though, froch would destroy degale late on with his relentless, warrior style. lets not get carried away, dirrell is nothing special

After watching that fight I think Degale would have beaten Froch easier than he did Dirrell.  Degale did tire but not because he gassed but because Dirrell is a very good fighter and an immense athlete who had worked out how to keep away from Degales left hook and was stinging Degale was some good shots, Dirrell was also the bigger man which showed a little at times, seeing as Degale was way ahead I think he knew this and it made him go in his shell a little.  Got to give credit where it is due, had Degale not performed he would have got a hiding from a very good fighter in his home town...

I think maybe he put a bit too much into the rounds after he dropped Dirrell, hoping for the stoppage and this could have also left him a bit tired in the mid rounds, but the fact he finished the 11th and 12th on top shows he must have had something left in the tank.

Bar Ward I see Degale dealing with most if not everyone in the SM division... especially if he learns more from last night.. I wonder how Froch would have got on in this fight?, I have a feeling he may have lost.

He'd deal with everyone bar ward and dirrel.

Chunky vs Slimey. Now that would be a good fight with Chunky winning on points

Let's have Degale vs GGG in a stadium..............in summer/fall ..........

Degale will cost less than Froch.........Great fight !!

no chance at all of that happening truss, Hearn will be waiting and praying for Groves to win the WBC and setting up for a unifying fight at Wembley, hopefully in front of 80,001 people!