Anthony Dirrell (born October 14, 1984) is an American
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
. He was a two-time
WBC super middleweight
Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...
champion, having held the title in 2019 and previously from 2014 to 2015. He is the younger brother of
2004 Olympic bronze medalist
Andre Dirrell
Andre Dirrell (born September 7, 1983) is an American professional boxer who held the IBF interim super middleweight title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 2004 Olympics. His younger bro ...
, who is also a professional boxer.
Professional career
Anthony Dirrell made his pro debut on January 27, 2005 against Henry Dukes. Dirrell stopped him in the first round. Dirrell had his next fight on February 11, 2005 against Dewayne Warren. Dirrell knocked Warren down twice in round one and twice again in round two. Dirrell won by
TKO.
Dirrell had his third fight against Larry Brothers in which Dirrell won by TKO in the second round. Dirrell had his fourth fight against Mike Walthier knocking him out in the first round.
Dirrell had his fifth fight against
Gabriel Rivera
Gabriel Rivera (April 7, 1961 – July 16, 2018), nicknamed "Señor Sack", was an American football nose tackle in the National Football League (NFL). Rivera played college football for Texas Tech where he earned All-American honors in 1982. ...
on August 13, 2005. Though Rivera was unbeaten in four fights, Dirrell won by TKO in the second. Dirrell had his sixth fight against Kevin Butts in which Dirrell knocked him out in the first round.
Dirrell had his seventh fight against Chris Grays in which Dirrell won by TKO in the first round. Dirrell had his eighth fight against Juan Carlos Ramos in which Dirrell won by TKO in the first round.
Dirrell had his ninth fight against James Morrow on June 23, 2006 in which Dirrell won by TKO in the first round. Dirrell won this fight in impressive fashion as he first knocked down Morrow with a huge right hand to the head, then followed up with a flurry in which Dirrell hit Morrow with a perfect left hook to the body which blew Morrow's mouthpiece out. Dirrell's tenth fight was against Billy Thompson in which he won by unanimous decision in 6 rounds.
On April 24, 2015 Anthony Dirrell debuted with Premier Boxing Champions vs. Badou Jack at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, IL.
Dirrell vs. Bika
Following a 23 fight win streak, Dirrell earned the opportunity to become the
mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champi ...
for the
WBC Super Middleweight title. He recorded his 24th consecutive victory with a win over Renan St-Juste, when his opponent could not continue due to a shoulder injury. After another pair of wins, on December 12, 2013, Dirrell faced champion
Sakio Bika
Sakio Bika (born 18 April 1979) is a Cameroonian-born Australian professional boxer. He held the WBC super-middleweight title from 2013 to 2014, and previously the IBO super-middleweight title from 2008 to 2010. In 2015 he challenged once for ...
at the
Barclays Center
Barclays Center is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Brooklyn. The arena is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liberty o ...
in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
for the title. After 12 rounds, the judges ruled the fight a draw.
On August 16, 2014, at the
StubHub Center
Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignity ...
in
Carson, California
Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International Airport. Incorporated on February 20, 1968, ...
, Dirrell faced Bika in a championship rematch. After another 12 rounds, the judges awarded the fight and the title to Dirrell by unanimous decision.
Dirrell vs. Jack
Dirrell's next fight was on April 24, 2015 against
Badou Jack
Badou Johannes Gabriel Jack (born 31 October 1983) is a Swedish professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC super-middleweight title from 2014 to 2017 and the WBA light-heavyweight title in 201 ...
at the
UIC Pavilion
Credit Union 1 Arena (previously known as UIC Pavilion) is a multi-purpose arena located at 525 S. Racine Avenue on the Near West Side in Chicago, Illinois, which opened in 1982.
Description and history
Credit Union 1 Arena is located on the cam ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
. Challenger Jack handed Dirrell his first full-fledged loss with a majority decision that saw the 31-year-old Swede control the fight through the middle rounds, relying on a strong jab and a confident aggression to outpoint Dirrell and win a majority decision victory.
WBC contention, injury
After Badou Jack vacated the WBC super middleweight title, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman ordered Dirrell to face
Callum Smith
Callum John Smith (born 23 April 1990) is an English professional boxer. He held the WBA (Super) and ''Ring'' magazine super-middleweight titles from 2018 to 2020, and at regional level the British and European super-middleweight titles betwee ...
for the vacant belt. Following Smith's entry into the
World Boxing Super Series
The World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) is a professional boxing tournament organised by Comosa AG.
Each weight class features eight boxers competing in an annual knockout competition with the champion from each weight class taking the Muhammad Al ...
, it was announced the fight for the vacant title would be between Dirrell and
David Benavidez
Anthony David Benavidez (born December 17, 1996) is an American professional boxer. He is a two-time WBC super middleweight champion, having held the title from 2017 to 2018 and again from 2019 to 2020. Claiming his first belt at 21 years, eig ...
. On August 5, the WBC announced that Dirrell would be unable to compete due to injury and the bout for the vacant world title would be between Benavidez and
Ronald Gavril
Ronald Gavril (born July 10, 1986) is a Romanian professional boxer. He is signed to Mayweather Promotions and is currently trained by Eddie Mustafa Muhammad.
Early life and education
Ronald Gavril was born on 10 July 1986 in Bacău, Romania. ...
.
Dirrell vs. Yıldırım
On February 23, 2019, Dirrell fought WBC's #2
Avni Yıldırım
Avni Yıldırım (born 5 August 1991) is a Turkish professional boxer. He challenged for the IBO super-middleweight title in 2017, the WBC super-middleweight title in 2019, and the WBA (Super), WBC, and ''Ring'' magazine super-middleweight ti ...
for the vacant WBC super middleweight title. Dirrell fought well but had a hard time dealing with Yıldırım at times. The fight was scheduled for twelve rounds, but the ringside physician made the recommendation to stop the fight, since Dirrell was dealing with a cut over his left eye, caused by an accidental head clash in the seventh round. Dirrell was leading on two of the scorecards at the time of stoppage, 96-94 and 96-94, while the third judge had it 98-92 for Yıldırım, which was enough for a technical split decision win for Dirrell.
Dirrell vs. Benavidez
In his first title defence, Dirrell faced
David Benavidez
Anthony David Benavidez (born December 17, 1996) is an American professional boxer. He is a two-time WBC super middleweight champion, having held the title from 2017 to 2018 and again from 2019 to 2020. Claiming his first belt at 21 years, eig ...
. Benavidez, a former holder of the same belt, was undefeated and had never lost the belt in the ring. In a very competitive fight, Dirrell was fighting well in the opening four rounds. However, things started to go south for Dirrell in the fifth round, when he sustained a bad cut from a Benavidez jab. In the ninth round, after Benavidez unloaded a barrage of shots at Dirrell, Dirrell's corner decided to stop the fight.
Dirrell vs. Davis
In his next fight, Dirrell fought Kyrone Davis in an eliminator for the WBC super middleweight championship. The fight ended in a split-decision draw, both fighters winning on one scorecard apiece, 115-113, while the third judge had the fight a draw, 114-114.
Outside the ring
It was announced by
HBO Boxing After Dark
''Boxing After Dark'' is an HBO boxing program, premiered on February 3, 1996, that usually showed fights between well-known contenders, but usually not "championship" or "title" fights. Unlike its sister program, ''HBO World Championship Boxin ...
announcer
Larry Merchant
Larry Merchant (born Larry Kaufman; February 11, 1931) is an American sportswriter, a longtime commentator for HBO sports presentations of ''HBO World Championship Boxing'', ''Boxing After Dark'' and HBO pay-per-view telecasts, called "the grea ...
on the June 16, 2007 telecast that Dirrell was currently undergoing
chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...
for non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma
Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...
. He was cleared to box again after completing chemotherapy in 2008.
On January 28, 2008, Dirrell was held overnight in the Flint city lockup on suspicion of armed robbery.
However, no charges were ever filed. Dirrell's grandfather claims that Dirrell was on his way to undergo chemotherapy for
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of hematological malignancy, blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include lymphadenopathy, enlarged lymph nodes, fever ...
when the robbery took place.
Professional boxing record
References
External links
Anthony Dirrell profileat ''
Premier Boxing Champions
''Premier Boxing Champions'' (PBC) is an ongoing series of televised boxing events connected to manager Al Haymon.
PBC was initially promoted as an effort to return boxing to mainstream broadcast and cable television, as opposed to premium chann ...
''
*
Anthony Dirrell - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankingsa
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dirrell, Anthony
1984 births
Living people
Boxers from Michigan
Sportspeople from Flint, Michigan
American male boxers
World Boxing Council champions
World super-middleweight boxing champions