Anthony “The Dog” Dirrell (28-1-1 22 KO’s) pitched a shutout on Sunday against tough Mexican Marco Antonio Rubio (59-8-1 51 KO’s). Rubio, most recently known for being counted out against superstar boxer Gennady Golovkin, was supposed to be a comeback fight for Dirrell, who just came off losing his WBC super-middleweight title to Badou Jack. Instead what happened was Dirrell throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Rubio.
Dirrell spoke to Tha Boxing Voice’s Mario Mungia about his performance that night, and Dirrell explained himself.
“We had a good camp I give it up to my team for making me look this great, but its Marco Antonio Rubio, we knew he was going to come forward and bring the fight, and I think I dominated the fight from the 1st round to the last round.”
“He has a little snap on his punches; I sparred cruiserweights so there’s not a big difference between his power and their power…of course they hit harder.
“I think I did what I had to do trying to not get hit I think I did a hell of a job just boxing him.”
“The WBC is definitely a belt that I want back but anyone with a title I’m willing to fight I’m not scared to fight no one.”
Dirrell seems to be adamant on getting his title back, but a fight with Badou Jack doesn’t seem like it’ll happen in the near future. Jack has a fight defending that title this weekend against George Groves we will see how Jack fares on that night. As for the foreseeable future for Dirrell, he may need another comeback type fight as the fight with Rubio probably didn’t do the job. Although Dirrell pitched a shutout, he did it taking unwarranted punishment which kept his uninterested foe in the fight.
With that being said, Dirrell is still a major player in his division. He does have a varied offensive arsenal as a fighter and does switch from offense to defense well. Out of all the names in the top 10 of the super-middleweight division, I’d give Dirrell a fighting chance against almost all of them, but Dirrell needs a convincing win that people will embrace. Since his fight with Sakio Bika, Dirrell has been anything but convincing.
