Former world champion Anthony Dirrell (28-1-1, 22 KOs) and his brother former world title challenger Andre Dirrell (24-2, 16 KOs) will look to get back on the championship trail Friday. Each will fight in separate bouts in a card held at the Trump Taj Mahal, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The show will be promoted by Marshall Kauffman (King’s Promotions) and aired on Spike TV. Each of the brothers’ bouts will be scheduled for 10 rounds and in the super middleweight divisions.
Andre will be fighting for the first time in nearly a year. He last fought Jame DeGale for the vacant IBF super middleweight world title. Dirrell was down twice early in the fight but came on strong the second half of the fight. DeGale was able to hang on when the world title by close decision. It was a tough defeat for Dirrell who had come a long way just to get himself back into contention again.
Anthony actually was actually over shadowed by his brother who was seen by many as the more likely to win a world title. It was Anthony who would reach that goal first though in 2014 winning the vacant WBC super middleweight world title in a rematch versus Sakio Bika. There first fight was a draw the previous year. Dirrell would lose his WBC world title to Badou Jack in an upset nearly a year ago in his first defense. He bounced back with a win over former world title challenger Marco Rubio this past September.
Andre will face former world title challenger Blake Caparello while Anthony will face former world title challenger Caleb Truax. Both brothers will be facing decent opposition but are expected to come out victoriously in the end. Neither has been very active of late which is a trend they certainly would like to change. The division is now wide open with the departure of Andre Ward to the light heavyweight divsion and retirement of Carl Froch. The opportunity seems to there for both brothers. It’s up to each of them to step up and take advantage now if a world title opportunity presents itself.
