By Michael Collins: 2004 U.S Olympian and former Super Six tournament contestant Andre Dirrell (20-1, 14 KO’s) says he’s willing to face super middleweight knockout artist Adonis Stevenson (18-1, 15 KO’s) in an IBF 168 pound elimination bout to become the mandatory challenger to IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch.
The Dirrell-Stevenson fight is currently being negotiated. If Dirrell agrees to the financial terms and conditions the fight will take place on August 11th at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Dirrell, 28, has no problems facing the Canadian based Stevenson in his own country, because he’s not all that impressed with his skills.
Dirrell told the Flint Journal at mlive.com “I am one of the best as far as I’m concerned. There’s nothing that he could do to beat me. His one-punch knockout is all he has. I’m too hungry, first and foremost…It’s really the Froch factor. I’m chasing down Carl Froch and he has the title once again.”
The Dirrell-Stevenson fight is far from a sure thing, however, because Dirrell says he’s interested but he won’t take the fight unless the terms are to his liking. He wants the Froch rematch but if he doesn’t get what he’s asking for from the negotiation, he’ll move on and face someone else. In that case, Stevenson will fight #12 IBF Don George, who is said to be fighting on the undercard. George will then move up and fight Stevenson in what could be an interesting fight due to George’s excellent power and strong chin. If George can take Stevenson’s big shots, we could see another upset like the one where Darnell Boone knocked Stevenson out in two rounds in 2010.
Stevenson does have excellent one-punch power, but he’s totally unproven and he is 34. He looks good against 3rd tier opposition and fringe contenders, but he looked awful in getting knocked out by journeyman Darnell Boone. His power seems to disappear when he puts his shots together. It’s only when he’s loading up with one shot at a time that he’s able to throw with a lot of power. In that respect he minds me a lot of middleweight Peter Quillin, who throws with excellent power when loading up on his shots, but his power disappears when he throws combos. Like Quillin, Stevenson has no inside game and no real jab to speak of.
If Dirrell can avoid getting hit with Stevenson’s big left hands, he’ll easily win this fight. Stevenson is pretty much power only and perhaps not nearly as good his resume would indicate.