By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated WBC Super Middleweight Champions Anthony Dirrell of Flint, Michigan will be stepping into the ring with Badou Jack of Sweden this Friday, April 24th at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois. This is Dirrell’s first title defense since winning the belt from Sakio Bika last August. The 12-round bout can be seen in the U.S. and Canada on the Spike TV network.
The 30-year-old Dirrell will climb into the ring with a near-perfect record of 27-0-1 with 22 Kos and stands just over six-feet tall and has a 74.5-inch reach. He may not be the most well-known titleholder out there as he’s mainly fought against Grade B opponents. However, he’s beaten everybody that’s stood in front of him and has an impressive 79 per cent knockout rate. The 31-year-old Jack is 18-1-1 with 12 Kos to his name. He’s is 6-foot-1-inch tall and has a 76-inch reach to give him a slight advantage in each of those departments. Jack hails from Stockholm, but now resides in Las Vegas.
This is another installment of the Premier Boxing Champions series on mainstream TV, but looking at the headliner it may arguably be the weakest one of them all since the series began. Neither fighter is very recognizable with the average boxing fan, but that could all change if they put on a good show at the University of Illinois on Friday. Jack trains in Vegas at Mayweather’s and his aim of course is to become a world champion. His train was derailed somewhat last February when he was stopped in the first round by Derek Edwards.
However, he put a couple of wins together and now has the chance to realize his dream against Dirrell. The champion’s last two fights were against Bika. The first meeting ended in a draw and Dirrell took the rematch by unanimous decision eight months later. Dirrell was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma back in 2007 and underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments for close to two years before fighting again.
Dirrell turned pro back in 2005 and has met the likes of Bika and Anthony Hanshaw. Other than that really, there aren’t too many opponents anybody is going to recognize in the 95 rounds he’s fought. Jack, a former Olympian, has fought 94 rounds since turning pro in 2009 and his list of opponents is quite similar to Dirrell’s. His draw came against Marco Antonio Periban in a six-round fight back in September of 2013.
Prediction
Even though these two boxers aren’t considered well known it doesn’t mean they won’t put on a good show. Dirrell’s style against Bika was quite fan friendly as he’s not shy when it comes to mixing things up. He’s got good power and a solid chin as well as plenty of heart and determination. The same can be said of Jack, but his chin could be questionable ever since Edwards stopped him. If both guys fight up to their potential this should be a pretty good scrap and one which is hard to predict a clear winner. But based on his record so far and slight experience advantage as a pro I’ll go with Dirrell by decision or late stoppage.
