NOTTINGHAM (October 18th, 2009) WBC Super Middleweight Champion Carl Froch on his points win over Andre Dirrell in their Super Six World Boxing Classic encounter: “It was close but I had no doubt in my mind that I had won the fight. He’s a slick, fast, counter puncher and when you combine that with the negativity he showed in there it made it a very difficult night.
“I don’t know how he expected to come to the Champions hometown and take the WBC belt fighting like that. Nobody likes to see someone running and being negative and I think people recognoised that I was trying to make a fight of it but it takes two to tango. I like to stand there and have a fight and give the fans and the TV viewers a real show but Dirrell wasn’t interested in that kind of fight.
“I’m sure he’ll improve from that performance and it will have been a learning experience for him but at that kind of pace I could have gone 25 rounds.”
Froch on the 8,000 Cobra fans present in a sold out Trent FM Arena in Nottingham:
“The Nottingham fans really turned out for me so I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t get to see more of a fight. Their support is a privilege and an honour and I’m taken aback that 8,000 people would come out to support me at 2 in the morning.
“I feel sorry for the fans that it wasn’t a more exciting fight but I can only fight what’s in front of me. I’m satisfied to retain my title, I’ve just beaten one of the best boxers the U.S. has to offer and I didn’t get hit with anything that gave me any trouble at all. He felt quite fragile in there when we were in close. I felt twice as strong as him and he didn’t really have any physical presence. I think he felt my strength in there too and that’s why he was so negative and tried to disrupt the rhythm of the fight.”
On his next fight in the Super Six tournament, a mouth watering showdown with Mikkel Kessler:
“I know that Kessler will bring a war and the fans will have a real fight to look forward to there. That’s a fight I’m relishing. Hopefully he’ll beat Andre Ward in their fight next month so both the WBC and WBA belt’s will be on the line in our fight.
I think he will, so far the tournaments gone as I expected. Jermain Taylor got knocked out again in the last round against Arthur Abraham so Taylor must be jinxed because it was exactly the same time in the same round that I knocked him out. I expected Abraham to beat him and obviously I expected to beat Dirrell so it’s all gone as I thought it would so far.
Andre Dirrell on the split decision verdict and the point deduction:
“I know I could have done more in there but I believe I definitely did enough to win the fight. I’m still clueless as to why the referee took the point. The points should have been taken from Froch, I thought he was the one pulling and holding and he was rough all night. He was the one using the dirty tactics.”
Dirrell on the lessons learned from the defeat:
“I definitely learned some things tonight. I know I can go all twelve rounds at this level and I proved that I’m a warrior in there. It’s a loss and it hurts but it will only motivate me and make me work harder in the gym. This tournament has only just started and I still believe I’ll be there at the end of it.”
For more information on the Super Six World Boxing Classic including exclusive videos, photography, expert analysis from Al Bernstein and Steve Farhood, and much more please visit www.WorldBoxingClassic.com or visit http://www.hennessysports.com/worldboxingclassic.htm.
About SUPER SIX WORLD BOXING CLASSIC
The inaugural Super Six World Boxing Classic is a ground-breaking, six-fighter tournament from SHOWTIME Sports® featuring the class of the super middleweight (168-pound) division. The field is comprised world renowned fighters with a staggering combined record of 161-4-1 with 117 knockouts: former IBF middleweight champion “King” Arthur Abraham of Germany; U.S. Olympic medalist Andre “The Matrix” Dirrell of Flint, Mich.; WBC super middleweight champion Carl “The Cobra” Froch of England; WBA 168-pound champion Mikkel “Viking Warrior” Kessler of Denmark; former undisputed 160-pound world champion Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor of Little Rock, Ark.; and U.S. Olympic gold medalist Andre “S.O.G.” Ward of Oakland, Calif. .