By Ian S Palmer
WBC Super Middleweight Champion Sakio Bika of Cameroon will be defending his title against undefeated American Anthony Dirrell at the StubHub Center in Carson, California this Saturday, August 16. The 12-round action can be caught live on Showtime in the U.S. and on Super Channel in Canada. This is a rematch of their December fight which ended in a 12-round draw.
The 35-year-old Bika, who now fights out of Sydney, Australia, is a tough customer and slightly underrated. He can give and take with the best of them and will climb into the ring with an impressive record of 32-5-3 with 21 Kos to his name. He stands just under 6-feet tall and has a 71 inch reach. The 29-year-oild Dirrell of Flint, Michigan, has a mark of 26-0-1 with 22 Kos. He’s about an inch taller than Bika, but has a three-and-a-half-inch reach advantage at 74.5 inches. The champion has a huge edge in experience with 238 pro rounds under his belt while Dirrell has just 83 rounds. Dirrell did enjoy an extensive and successful amateur career though.
Bika likes to brawl plain and simple and he’s pretty effective at it. He prefers to fight on the inside and doesn’t mind going toe-to-toe with his opponents. He’s fought a lot of good boxers over the years such as Andre Ward and Joe Calzaghe while Dirrell hasn’t been in with the same class of opponent. When Dirrell did step up in class when the two met in December he didn’t do enough to win. However, he didn’t lose either and he managed to drop Bika in the fifth round. The champion got up though and just kept coming forward and wore Dirrell down. Bika also lost a point in the 11th round for a low blow and that cost him a victory.
Bika won’t change his style for this rematch, so it will be up to Dirrell to show the fans what he learned from their first meeting and how he’s going to adjust to earn a win. Bika doesn’t seem to tire in fights and he’s got a great chin even though Dirrell did deck him. The champion just keeps throwing punches from all over the place and it’s hard to keep up with him. Dirrell has the better boxing skills, but not brawling skills. However, he does have good power, perhaps more than Bika, and he can also take a punch.
Bika isn’t hard to find and hit in the ring so if Dirrell doesn’t run out of gas this time around he’s got a good shot at victory. He needs to come into the fight in excellent shape and has to match Bika’s punch output though. Dirrell simply can’t afford to waste rounds on the judges’ scorecards due to inactivity and Bika can’t afford to lose points due to bending the rules and being knocked down.
Prediction
Dirrell needs to move and box in this fight. He has to be smarter and also has to prove that he’s intelligent enough to have learned from their first bout. The challenger can’t afford to get trapped on the ropes or in a corner. He’s got the power to slug it out with Bika when he has to, but can also win rounds by using his superior boxing skills. This should be another close fight and Bika will win if Dirrell can’t adjust. However, look for Dirrell to be in better shape this time and he should take a close win on points.
