by James Slater – As has been reported by the WBC, at their recent convention, Andre Dirrell has asked them for a rematch with current WBC 168-pound ruler Carl Froch; the man who controversially out-pointed him via close split decision back on October 17th in Nottingham, UK. According to a statement put out by the WBC, who are in support of the exciting “Super Six” tournament both Froch and Dirrell are competing in: “if a rematch could be scheduled without interfering with the tournament it will be approved. If it cannot then Dirrell will become the mandatory challenger after the tournament has finished..”
So, could we be seeing a rematch of the fight fans are still arguing about almost a month after it took place in “The Cobra’s” home town? As we know, Dirrell is next set to face the unbeaten Arthur Abraham in his next bout in the tourney, while Froch will next face Mikkel Kessler. As tough as those two fights will likely for both men, an “in-between” rematch looks a tall order.
It’s easy to see why Dirrell wants another got at Froch, though. Many fans who saw the bout on T.V felt strongly that the challenger did enough to have won the contest, and Dirrell himself puts the defeat down to a hometown verdict. Being at ringside for the fight, I had Froch winning quite comfortably. I must admit, however, to seeing the fight as a much closer one when watching it on tape later on.
The controversy about who won aside, would the fans really want to see the two super-middleweights going at each other for a second time? The fight, though no stinker, wasn’t exactly a great action fight. Dirrell was way too negative and he complained to the referee way too much also, while Froch was made to miss too much and he was at times guilty of using rough tactics. Most importantly, the styles of the two men did not gel, and the bout drew boos from the large crowd. Do we really want to see this again?
It will all depend of what happens during the rest of “Super Six” (unless Froch and Dirrell do find the energy to have an out of tournament return). If Froch loses to either Kessler, or Abraham, his next two scheduled opponents, there will be no WBC title fight return with Dirrell. If Froch did lose his WBC crown, Dirrell would then be made the mandatory for a fight with whoever it was that beat “The Cobra.” If that happened, though, there would be no sense of a chance at revenge for “The Matrix” – so what would the point be?
Froch will do extremely well to hold onto his world title during the remainder of “Super Six,” and many fans feel he will lose to Kessler next year. It seems, then, going by such thinking, that Dirrell’s only shot at getting Froch back in the ring while he is still WBC champion is if the Nottingham man agrees to face him some time in-between his further tournament commitments. The chances of Froch seeing any value in doing that, however, are pretty slim.