Two former Olympic medalists face off today for the vacant IBF Super Middleweight title belt. Andre Dirrell (25-1, 16 KOs), the 31-year old southpaw from Flint, Mich. takes on 29-year-old Brit James DeGale (20-1, 14 KOs). Dirrell was a bronze medalist in the 2004 Olympics. DeGale took home the gold medal in the 2008 games.
Each man has just one loss on his record and neither from a knockout. Dirrell has won six straight fights, with his last win coming over Derek Edwards in a unanimous decision last December. DeGale is riding a 10-fight win streak with his last victory a TKO in the third round over Marco Antonio Periban back in November. Dirrell’s lone loss came to another Brit, Car Froch on a split decision in October, 2009. DeGale lost a majority decision to fellow countryman George Groves in May, 2011.
Dirrell is a slight favorite with the bookmakers and our combat sports guru Miguel Iturrate previewed the fight Tuesday with his video blog. There are plenty of undercard fights paired with this event, but we’ll be with you here to cover it all on our live blog.
