Uatu is bringing you the Showtime-televised action, live from his mother's basement. Unlike ShoBox, this is being shown in HD.
These fights are being put on in the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. This first fight is in the super-middleweight division and will be for 12 rounds. Apparently there has been a lot of rain in the area and this will lessen the attendance and dampen - no pun intended - the enthusiasm. Al Bernstein is handling the color duties this evening.
If you read Uatu's round-by-round from last week's 168-pound fight, you already know that Uatu is a big Dirrell fan and thinks that Andre is the future of 168 and a future star.
Ognaov is met with boos. Uatu is not sure why that would be. Nick Charles speculates that it is because Oganov is a stablemate of Vic D.
Dirrell is 25, Oganov 32 years of age. Uatu changes the channel and is surprised to see a Texas Tech 19-Texas 0 score.
That "Matrix" nickname is not going to be cool in a few years when the movie is gone and forgotten.
And away we go!
Round 1
Nice left from oganov. Dirrell fighting going backwards and in an orthdox stance. Now he switches to southpaw. Oganov does the same. Dirrell is throwing huge bombs and power shots over and over and over - incredible hand speed. They aren't even actual combos as much as power shots in succession. With a minute to go, Dirrell throws what looks to be somewhere near a 20-punch combo that has to be seen to be believed. It was an extended shoeshine. Not all landing, of course, or Oganov would be out of there. Oganov pins Dirrell in the corner to end the round. Crazy stuff.
Uatu: Dirrell 10-9
Round 2
After the replay, the combo was closer to 12 or 13 punches. Dirrell is much taller than Oganov. It's a striking difference visually. Dirrell is moving around constantly but not in a very passive way. Oganov has to really lunge and leap in due to the movement and size difference. The fight is just sort of strange and a little awkward at this point. Big jabs from Dirrell. It's almost a tad amateurish in this fight. Wild swings from Oganov but no landing punches.
Uatu: Dirrell 10-9
Round 3
Powerful uppercut from Dirrell. Dirrell trying the body too. A slip, no knockdown as Dirrell falls. Oganov continues to press and is trying. The third round is much like the second at this point, with Dirrell in control from the outside and Oganov trying to get close on the ropes. Dirrell is putting what looks to be max effort into most of his punches. Could he tire himself out? Dirrell has to be taking a lot out of Oganov. If Oganov is unaffected, then he is truly a man's man.
Uatu: Dirrell 10-9
Round 4
It is really something to see a fighter throw so many punches with such bad intentions so early. Maybe Dirrell is trying to make a big impression and doesn't think Oganov will last the whole way. Bernstein follows Uatu's line of thinking by calling this a marketing fight for Dirrell. Dirrell is keeping up his wicked punches. Dirrell catches a few low blows, but for some reason he doesn't get time to recover even though he fell. Oganov is trying to capitalize on this turn of events. He is bleeding profusely at this point too. Dirrell gets a pushing warning. Strong lead lefts from Dirrell. It's Oganov's left eye that is bleeding. Another Dirrell round.
Uatu: Dirrell 10-9
Round 5
The crew discusses the low blow incident and they deem it a missed call: Dirrell should have received five minutes to recover. Round 5 is no different from the first four so far. Oganov is chasing like crazy and getting punched with hard Dirrell punches on the way in for his effort. Press row journalists have it all 4-0 Dirrell. The lead left uppercut from Dirrell is a nice weapon, and it digs to the body too. Not everyone has the speed to pull that punch off. Oganov lands a left hook but no big deal. It got a crowd reaction though. Dirrell slips again. Nothing of consequence in the waning moments of the round either way. Not sure if either guy is tiring yet.
Uatu: Dirrell 10-9
Round 6
It's not an exact replay, but for Oganov to win there would have to be shades of Bute-Andrade. And out of nowhere the fight just got stopped! Seriously, it came out of left field. Nothing happened in Uatu's eyes for that to happen. The only thing that could have done it was the cut over Oganov's eye. That ending was abrupt.
The winner by TKO at 0:28 of Round 6... Andre "The Matrix" Dirrell.
If you don't want to see Dirrell fight again, you can just quit watching boxing. Great stuff from him. Wow, the ring just collapsed a little bit during the post-fight interview and the people have to shift the ring to another area.
Dirrell says he knew the uppercut was going to land. He says he feels great. He did his thing and he became the number one contender.
The ref says Oganov took a stutter step when getting hit at the very beginning of the sixth followed by an uppercut, and he was concerned for the fighter's safety. That certainly did happen, but it wasn't super dramatic. he wasn't exactly on spaghetti legs.
The judges had it 50-44, 50-45, and 50-45 (for Dirrell), so it was one-sided at that point.
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2 comments:
It will be interesting to see exactly when Dirrell makes that leap to main event status.
This fight looked fixed to me. Honestly. Look carefully, punch by punch for Oganov - he has no strategy but to walk forward. Once he gets close he doesn't punch, and when he does, there's only two things he does - miss wildly, or weakly pull his punches. He looks to me like he was frustrated at having to play the fix when Dirrell was leaving himself so open. Watch closely - pulled punches, and intentional misses. Oganov even smirks at the end and there's a look of understanding between all players.
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