by James Slater: Former world featherweight champion and current, well respected commentator and analyst Barry McGuigan has come out with a few things that may well surprise some fight fans. Writing in his regular boxing column in British paper The Mirror, McGuigan states how he believes Andre Dirrell should have been given the victory over Britain’s WBC 168-pound champion Carl Froch last Saturday.
The debate over the second fight in the “Super-Six” tournament goes on, and McGuigan joins a number of people who believe the fighter known as “The Matrix” deserved the nod in Nottingham last weekend. Other respected writers, such as Dan Rafael and Claude Abrams, however, have written how they feel “The Cobra” was a worthy, if close winner. No doubt the vast number of fans that read this web site will be pleased at what Irish legend McGuigan has had to say with regards to Froch’s controversial win.
But what will fans make of Barry’s other two comments? Firstly, McGuigan says he feels Jermain Taylor, due to the brutal way he was KO’d by Arthur Abraham in the opening fight of “Super-Six,” should retire.
“My advice to Jermain Taylor would be to never put gloves on again,” McGuigan wrote. “It is clear that his punch resistance has gone. He has to call it quits.”
McGuigan wrote how “Bad Intention’s” 12th-round KO loss to Froch also showed him that the former middleweight king’s days as an elite fighter have passed. It’s likely most fans will agree with what Barry has had to say on this regard, though some will argue that the decision is clearly one that Taylor and only Taylor himself can make.
Sure to cause debate, is the third statement the former featherweight champion has made – that Andre Dirrell will “box the ears off Arthur Abraham and storm back into [Super-Six] contention.”
Southpaw Dirrell, is of course, set to face the German-based warrior who has never been beaten, in his next fight in the tourney. And McGuigan, who refers to Abraham as being “a tad one dimensional,” believes “The Matrix” will win the fight on points. I myself, disagree with the first and third of Barry’s comments, but he’s the expert.
One thing’s for sure, IF Dirrell can beat “King” Arthur, it will add more intrigue to a tournament that is already fascinating. And, if Dirrell can beat Abraham, it will make Froch’s close call look all that much better.