MCM's Super Six Preview and Prediction: Carl Froch vs. Andre Dirrell

(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Saturday, Oct. 17, sees the opening of the Super Six World Boxing Classic, an event which the BBC's Ben Dirs is hailing as "that rare thing, a triumph of common sense and concord in boxing." The tournament will see six of the wolrd's best super middleweight fighters battle it out in a round-robin contest over two years, with only one man remaining victorious.

As part of this momentous event, MCM will be previewing and predicting the upcoming fights, beginning with Saturday's opening bouts: Carl Froch vs. Andre Dirrell in Nottingham, England, and Jermain Taylor vs. Arthur Abraham in Berlin, Germany.

Bout 1: Froch vs Dirrell

One of the alluring features of the Super Six World Boxing Classic is that in pitching six of the world's top ten middleweights against one another, the tournament is providing boxing enthusiasts with so many intriguing style matchups that involuntary salivation has become the order of the day.

Case in point: Carl Froch, the seemingly impervious pressure fighter, and Andre Dirrell, the quick and slick switcher-boxer.

Let's look at the attributes of both before settling on the possible outcome.

Carl "The Cobra" Froch

Since attaining the WBC super middleweight belt in 2008, Britain's Carl Froch (25-0, 20 KO) has become, with the possible exception of Mikkel Kessler, the man to beat in the division. Tall and rangy, Froch possess an iron chin with fists to match.

Starting out as a pro at the mature age of 25, Froch mowed down his domestic competition before capturing the world's attention a year ago by defeating a determined Jean Pascal for the vacant WBC title—a contender for fight of that year.

This he followed up with the now infamous KO of Jermain Taylor on U.S. soil in April, driving himself back from a near-points loss by stopping Taylor with a minute to go in the 12th.

Froch is, in the very best sense of the word, a pressure fighter. Slow to start, he  mounts increasingly devastating assaults on his opponents until they inevitable tire or crumble in the later rounds. But what adds to the danger of his considerable power is the fact he rarely rushes a stoppage; Froch is a ruthlessly accurate puncher unafraid to cede to patience before his opponent falls.

That said, Froch is not without his weaknesses, the most fundamental of which is his defense.

Fighting hands down, Froch attempts to evade punches with a Mayweather-esque shoulder role, a style he himself has admitted he has yet to master. Although an extremely solid chin means this chink has never been fully exploited, faster movers like Pascal and Taylor have been able to build upconvincing point leads against him.

The above defect is further exasperated by the fact that Froch isn't a particularly speedy mover himself. Relentless though he may be, he applies his pressure gradually—more boa constrictor than cobra. Again, faster punchers can easily—and frequently do—bag the earlier rounds.

If Dirrell can bend these faults to his will and evade Froch's gradual pressure, the Nottingham man could be looking down the barrel of his own demise on Saturday.

Andre "The Matrix" Dirrell

Although Olympic bronze-medal winner Andre Dirrrell (18-0, 13 KO) is certainly the least experienced fighter in the tournament, a strong case can be made for his being the most talented.

He is, many feel, an unknown quantity who will only become known once he gets into the square with Froch. His three biggest victories—a snoozer against Curtis Stevens and KO wins over prospects Anthony Hanshaw and Victor Oganov—will hardly be seen to have prepared him for the step up in class represented by facing off against Froch.

Nonetheless, the Olympian is seen to have the attributes to trouble his opponent.

Firstly, his speed is close to venturing into the stratosphere of Michigan peer, Floyd Mayweather Jr. And given that he utilises it on equally fast feet, Dirrell is more than capable of administering potshots all night as he fights on his bike.

His style, too, has the potential to upset Froch's incremental assaults.

Dirrell comfortably vacillates between orthodox and southpaw, disrupting the successes of his opponents just as they appear to have the matrix figured out. The early advances made by an aggressive Hanshaw, for instance, were quickly nullified by these switches. Whether or not Froch has been able to fully prepare for this in sparring, we'll have to wait and see on the night.

But aside from his lack of ring experience as a pro, there are several factors in Dirrell's game that his opponent can be satisfied about.

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