Anthony Dirrell has already realized his goals.
The super middleweight contender wanted to bounce back from cancer and win a world title. He won two belts. So what keeps him motivated to continue fighting at 35, an age when many fighters have already walked away?
“I still love the game. When you still got it, you still got it. That’s basically how it is,” he said on The PBC Podcast.
Dirrell has another source of motivation: The result of his last fight.
He lost his 168-pound title to Benavidez in September when his corner stopped the fight because of a deep gash above his right eye, the result of a punch. Benavidez technically won by a ninth-round knockout.
Benavidez, the strapping 23-year-old from Phoenix, was leading on all three cards when the fight was stopped but Dirrell thought he gave a strong performance and felt strong when the fight ended prematurely.
He’d like another shot at Benavidez.
“You know I want a rematch,” he said. “I don’t think he’ll give it to me. … Why? Because he knows I was beating him. Truthfully, he knows I was beating him. He couldn’t do to me what he did to other fighters. I think it was because of my experience.
“Is the guy good? Yeah, he’s a good fighter. Everybody knows that. But I think I was beating him until that cut. But we’ll never know. A cut happens. You take the wins with the losses. Hopefully I’ll get another shot before I go out and show the world that I’m a true champion.”