Abraham's act takes the gloss from Dirrell's performance
In case anybody forgot, underdog Andre Dirrell dominated Arthur Abraham and handed him his first defeat as a professional. The supposedly indestructible "King Arthur" lost nearly every round, was put on his back by a wicked left hand, and was reduced to swinging wildly for a knockout like a drunk in a tough man contest.
He was so completely outboxed that even the German press had him losing the fight seven rounds to three after ten, and that was hometown scoring at its best. As I was watching, giving Abraham more than one round was generous.
This is what the boxing world should be talking about this morning, a brilliant performance in a must win fight for a young man coming off a tough loss. However, Andre Dirrell was robbed of his moment of glory by Abraham's actions in the 11th round.
Moving to his right into the corner, Dirrell's right leg slipped out from under him and he went down to the canvas. The referee came in to rule an obvious slip, but before he had the chance, Abraham cocked back and hit his downed and defenceless opponent with a huge right hand.
Dirrell slowly collapsed to the canvas head first. Showtime commentator Antonio Tarver, sounding extremely concerned, said that Dirrell's legs were trembling and he looked to be in serious danger.
Abraham was immediately disqualified, but when Dirrell was finally able to stand, he was so out of it that he couldn't grasp what had happened. In tears he told the Showtime interviewer "I got dropped" and had to be told by his family members in the ring that he had in fact won the fight.
Instead of getting to celebrate the biggest moment of his career with his family in front of his home fans, Dirrell was taken to the hospital. The ring doctor feared that he had suffered a brain haemorrhage. As Dirrell was being taken away, Abraham made an awful night much worse by calling him an "actor" and claiming he had done nothing wrong.
As of now the press hasn't published any reports of Dirrell's condition, but first and foremost on anyone's mind is hopefully that he will be alright and that this won't be the end of a brilliant young career.
We see cheap shots in different sports all the time, late hits in football, drivers wrecking other cars in auto racing, but something about the one on one intimacy of boxing makes what Abraham did seem worse than any of these. Abraham was in a tough fight with a superior athlete and instead of trying to fight his way out of the situation; he took the easy route and tried to cheat.
It was especially ironic that Abraham spent the majority of the night complaining about phantom low blows and other various fouls by Dirrell, only to himself break the one rule of boxing that is unbreakable, hitting a man when he is down. Unfortunately, we don't have the kind of governing body in boxing like we do in other major sports. A cheap shot like that in hockey or football would undoubtedly lead to a huge fine and suspension.
Abraham can start his payment with an apology. He certainly owes one to his opponent's family who had to witness their loved one hurt, the fans that paid to see that disgusting behaviour, and most of all, to Andre Dirrell himself.