Anthony Dirrell’s primary goal going into his fight with Kyrone Davis on Saturday in Los Angeles isn’t complicated: The former titleholder wants to demonstrate that he remains one of the best super middleweights in the world.
Dirrell, 36, is coming off a ninth-round knockout loss to then-titleholder David Benavidez in a fight that was stopped because of a cut above Dirrell’s right eye in September 2019.
The veteran was competitive but well behind on the cards when the fight was stopped, 79-73, 78-74 and 78-74 after eight rounds. That and his previous performance against Avni Yildirim led many to believe that his best days were behind him.
Dirrell, as confident as ever, couldn’t care less what anyone thinks.
“I don’t listen to anybody,” he said on a Zoom conference call. “I don’t listen to y’all, to be honest. I know what I bring to the table. I know how I train. If I train the right way, nobody can beat me.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr–KJPb440&t=675s
No one will question Dirrell’s toughness.
He contracted and overcame non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the mid-2000s to reign twice as a super middleweight titleholder. He outpointed Sakio Bika to win the WBC belt in 2014 and lost it to Badou Jack by a majority decision in his first defense the following year.
In 2019, he regained the same title by winning a 10th-round technical split decision over Yildirim. Dirrell was cut above his left eye as the result of an accidental headbutt, which sent the fight to the scorecards.
Dirrell had said before the Yildirim fight that it might be his last because of his long career and desire to spend more time with his family but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to defend his title against Benavidez, which didn’t turn out well.
Seventeen months later he seems to have a fire beneath him once again. He was asked what he wants to demonstrate against Davis (15-2, 6 KOs), a skillful technician from Delaware who is moving up from 160 pounds.
“That I’m still one of the top contenders, that I never dropped,” he said. “I’m still here, still in contention.”
The fight with Davis is a WBC title eliminator. So is a bout between Benavidez and Ronald Ellis, which is scheduled for March 13. That means the winner of the two fights could face one another for the right to fight titleholder Canelo Alvarez if Alvarez beats Yildirim on Saturday.
However, Dirrell said he wants nothing to do with the Benavidez-Ellis winner at this stage of his career.
“I don’t want it,” he said. “I want a championship, I want to fight for a belt. If it ain’t for a belt, I don’t want to fight for it. I’m not looking past Kyrone. I don’t look past nobody. I train for everybody the damn same.
“He knows what I bring to the table and the world knows what I bring to the table.”
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