By Ian S Palmer
Former WBC Super Middleweight Champion Anthony Dirrell of Flint, Michigan will battle Marco Hernandez of Fresno, California on the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez vs Caleb Plant fight this Saturday, November 6th. The 10 round bout can be seen live on Showtime PPV in North America and BT Sport Box Office in the UK. Dirrell regained the vacant title in February, 2019 with a 10-round technical decision over Avni Yildirim and was then stopped in the ninth round by David Benavidez seven months later. He last fought in February when he drew with Kyrone Davis over 12 rounds. Hernandez last fought in September with a 10-round unanimous decision over Jose Resendiz.
The 37-year-old Dirrell will enter the ring with a record of 33-2-2 with 24 Kos. He’s a fine boxer, but not quite in the upper echelon or elite class at the moment. His best performances have been against Caleb Truax, Marco Antonio Rubio, Denis Douglin and Sakio Bika (twice). Dirrell fought to a 12-round draw with Bika in their first meeting in December, 2013 and then took Bika’s WBC crown via unanimous decision the next time out in August of 2014.
Dirrell then lost the crown to Badou Jack by majority decision in April of 2015. He’s quite big for the 168 lb as he division at just over 6-feet-2-inches tall and has a 74.5-inch reach. He’s ultimately beaten everybody he’s faced other than Jack, Benavidez and Davis and owns an impressive knockout rate of 64.9 per cent. He 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 in 2005 and has fought 171 rounds since.
Hernandez is a 28-year-old who carries around a record of 15-4-2 with just 3 Kos. He’s boxed 130 rounds since making his pro debut in 2013 and obviously doesn’t possess much threat in the way of power with a current knockout ratio of just 14.3 per cent. He’s also a good size for the division at 6-feet tall with a 72-inch reach. This puts him two inches shorter than Dirrell and gives him a 2.5-inch reach disadvantage.
The losses on Hernandez’s record have come at the hands of Kyrone Davis via a 10-round split decision in 2017, a ninth-round TKO to Jeison Rosario in 2019, an eight-round unanimous decision to Kevin Newman II in November, 2019 and a 10-round unanimous decision to Alantez Fox in his next outing a month later. His winless streak then reached three fights in January when he fought to an eight-round draw with Brandyn Lynch. His first draw was a six-round affair with Rosario in 2018.
Prediction…
Hernandez has won just two of his last six bouts with three losses and a draw while Dirrell has a draw and loss in his last two outings. Dirrell is now 37 years old but is facing an opponent who has relative little power but a pretty dependable chin. But considering Dirrell’s own power and experience he should have enough left in the tank to pull out a win over Hernandez on Saturday night.
