Preview: Abraham vs. Taylor and Froch vs. Dirrell

Saturday, October 18th will see Showtime airing the first two bouts on its Super Six boxing tournament. At 8pm EST, the undefeated former middleweight champion Artur Abraham will fight one-time undisputed middleweight king Jermain Taylor in Berlin. Then at 10pm EST, WBC champ Carl Froch will defend his title against American 2004 Olympian Andre Dirrell in Nottingham. Four of the best 168 lbs fighters in the world will clash on the same night, setting the stage for deciding just who is the best in this talent-rich division.

Arthur Abraham (30-0, 24 KOs)
28 years old, former IBF Middleweight Champion, Armenian by way of Germany

Jermain Taylor of the USA (28-3-1, 17 KOs)
30 years old, former Undisputed World Middleweight Champion, American

Taylor is an athletic fighter with a complete package: skill, strength, toughness, speed, power. He has been in the ring with guys the likes of which Artur Abraham cannot fathom: wizards like Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright, speedsters like Corey Spinks, and bangers like Kelly Pavlik and Carl Froch. Abraham won't be able to show Taylor anything he hasn't seen before. Where he is lacking is in stamina and ring generalship. His career failures to date have been the result of either running out of gas, singularly bad tactical decisions, or both.

Abraham is also a complete package, but unlike Taylor he is on a winning streak. Undefeated and full of confidence, he shows the kind of poise that Taylor has been lacking in. He is also unquestionably a man of great courage and fortitude, as duking it out for several rounds with a hideously broken jaw during the Miranda I bout showed.

To win, Taylor will have to come on strong and establish himself, prevent Abraham from figuring him out and asserting control for as long as possible, and then have the smarts to stay out of trouble if and when that happens. I cannot see Taylor doing the last part of that game plan. He will probably win most of the first third of the fight, and the middle will be competitive, but by then Abraham will have made his adjustments and Taylor will start to fade. That is when Abraham will start setting Taylor up for the kill.

Prediction: Abraham TKO10

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Carl Froch (25-0, 20 KOs)
32 years old, current WBC Super Middleweight Champion, British

Andre Dirrell (18-0, 13 KOs)
26 years old, American

Froch is a tough, hard-hitting customer in the classic tradition of British middleweights. Dirrell is a greasy fast boxer, but with plenty of energy and respectable hitting power. Dirrell is lacking in big fight experience, but while Froch has fought Taylor and the current WBC 175 lbs champion. One other thing: Dirrell has never fought 12 rounds, and fought to 10 rounds only once before.

Against Froch, it must be said that that while he is undefeated, he was getting his ears boxed off by Jermain Taylor when those two met in April 2009. It was only a late rally and come-from-behind knockout that secured him a victory. Dirrell is not as strong as Taylor, and probably doesn't hit as hard, but he is no slouch and has two things to bring against Froch that Taylor did not: 1) Dirrell is a southpaw with a sounder technique than Taylor; 2) Dirrell is much faster than Taylor is.

Basically, if Taylor could outbox the plodding Brit, Dirrell should be able to do it too. What is certain is that Dirrell will use his speed and style to win most or all of the first half of the fight. The question is what happens around Round 8, because after that Dirrell is in deep water. The main worry here for Dirrell is good ring generalship: he needs to stay calm, stay patient, and fight at a steady, comfortable pace. When he finds that Froch is easy to hit, he can't pick up the pace and try to force a knockout. He can't afford to get overconfident. If he does either, he may run out of gas late or get clocked and find that tough Brit is bloodied, but still very game.

With his deep amateur pedigree, I don't see that happening. Froch will come on in the later rounds, but it won't be enough win back the fight. Unlike Taylor, Dirrell won't give him chances to win by knockout.

Prediction: Dirrell in a close points win. Be on the lookout for a stinky hometown decision for Froch, though.

Sources: boxrec.com; live fight footage