I don't know. I never said he was omitted by 3rd parties. I merely said he wasn't included- the inference that he was forced out or deliberately left-out didn't come from me....my argument merely was that it was a weaker tournament for his absence- regardless of how his absence came about. As it happens, he has made the correct decision it seems.
He would have had two really big paydays by now and possibly cemented himself as a p4p fighter and the best 168 lb fighter in the world and picked up additional belts. or he can add two relatively meaningless wins to his resume and lessen his claim to being the best 168 lbr in the world. And be lined up to fight another relatively meaningless fight in Brinkley. (I'm a Brinkley fan, but he doesn't compare to the super 6 crowd in any way)
Or he could have been shafted by judges/homecooking as so many of the fighters claim, he could be in hopsital, or in court, arguing over locations and officials for his fights, with opponents pulling out left and right. Personally, I think his KO of Android might just be as impressive a performance as we have seen from a 168lbr for quite some time.
I think a key component in how these things worked in the past was they were geographically and politically more concise. Now, you have too much diversity in terms of both the nationality of the fighters and the representation of the fighters.
How could people think Dirrell is faking? Clearly there's something not right. I hope this doesn't end his career.
This tournament sucked ass! Ward proved to bet the best from the beginning either way. I rather this be over and I would rather see Ward against Bute at some point in the future. but the same problem with Froch and Abraham. I don't even know if their fight is scheduled. All I ever read is stuff from Froch bitching about every detail of every fight. This whole tournament sucks. Good luck Showtime with that bantam and cruiserweight tournaments.
I agree something clearly is wrong with him. But he is like Cintron that have a reputation of being such a bitch that they have no credibility among fans anymore. To this day I don't think Cintron threw himself out of the ring against Williams but alot of fans think he did because he is likely to mentally crumble. Same with Dirrell, his style and pulling out of this tournament killed his rep completely.
He has won ONE fuckin fight against Kessler in pretty dirty fashion. Then he beat a fighter, who was outclassed by Edison Miranda. How has he proven anything? :scratcher:
Don't you get it? Ward is dee best, he did it, mayne.:boring: . Ward has the power,Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch are just fags in a bisexual bridal shower, Ward has the angles, the rest is all just new-fangles, Ward has the speed, he is the best indeed, ain't no if's or buts, 'cept his head-butts
:boring::boring: Would you have preferred the fight to have been in England or Germany? I happen to think that the fight in a neutral venue is a pretty damn good idea. MTF
So what the fuck was wrong with Monaco then???? I agreed with neutral, but apparently Froch want's it to be held on the fucking moon.:scratcher:
Monaco? Do they even have a sports hall there? The football stadium is built on top of a car-park, FFS MTF
suer 6 God this tournment been so annoying, They should just have Ward in the final now and have Froch and Abraham fighting it out to see who will join him, instead of keep adding new guys. Green and johnson don't deserve to be there and Direll is just a little bitch who knew he was going to get beat down by Ward and be out of super 6 anyway.artie:
Some of the things Steve Kim had to say were interesting: This whole saga has been bizarre from the beginning and it continued on Thursday morning. First of all, last week when Gary Shaw (who promotes Dirrell) and Showtime’s boxing czar, Ken Hershman, were in Los Angeles last week for the official press conference to promote the bantamweight tournament that takes place on December 11th in Mexico, I was told by both men during interviews (that can be viewed on Max-TV) that an announcement was forthcoming regarding a venue for that fight on Thanksgiving weekend. Originally, this match-up was slated for September 25th and just mysteriously allowed to slip away like a mirage as no venue or explanation was given for the first postponement (It was more than a bit strange that neither fighter had ever begun training for that fight). Well, on Thursday morning, I woke up to see a release sent out from Chris DeBlasio of Showtime that came through at 6:19 AM, Pacific time, stating that Hershman would be hosting a conference call at 9:30 AM, Pacific time, to talk about the newest developments to their*super middleweight*scrum. Usually, publicists like to give the media about three or four days’ notification of such an event. Here, we were given about three hours (And, silly me, I thought it would be a perfect chance to ask Hershman just where Ward-Dirrell would land, so I could notify the dozen or so people that actually still cared enough to attend the fight in person). But what was even more curious is that it turns out that Shaw (who is the promoter of record for Dirrell) wasn’t even notified of this conference call. Regardless, as Hershman greeted the media, he quickly announced the news that Ward-Dirrell was a no-go and that Ward would fight as planned on the same date and that the “Super Six” would continue. The first member of the media to ask questions as usual was Dan Rafael of*ESPN.com (who has a quicker trigger finger to the “1” on the phone dial than Wyatt Earp to his pistol) who asked all the pertinent questions that needed to be asked. And, in short, an obviously irritated Hershman told us that he really didn’t know what ailment Dirrell was suffering from and that we’d have to ask members of Dirrell’s camp to get to the bottom of it (Which I found odd. Shouldn’t Showtime, which has such a vested interest in this format, have gotten some verification of what ailed Dirrell?). Later on, the party line was released- Dirrell was suffering from lingering neurological effects from his bout with Arthur Abraham, which ended as Abraham blatantly fouled a prone Dirrell in the 11th round of their fight (And for the record, I think the DQ was completely justified and I don’t think in any way, shape or form did Dirrell fake his way out of this fight, which he happened to be winning). As much as I hate to be a cynic, I’m gonna have to be a cynic and just ask a few questions. The fight with Abraham was on March 27th, more than six months ago. If Dirrell was suffering from “neurological problems”- as Shaw has stated- just why was this fight scheduled, not once but twice? What’s interesting is that leading up to the first attempt at securing this bout in late September, Showtime was compelled to send both Shaw and Dan Goossen (who represents Ward) legal letters warning them that not going through with this fight would put them in breach of contract. It’s certainly an interesting strategy to take if a boxer’s health is truly at stake, in my humble opinion. One well-informed source told me shortly after I left the conference call (which was after Rafael asked all the questions that needed to be broached) that from the very beginning, there was never a single, legitimate attempt to ever have this fight come to fruition from those involved and that the ever-influential adviser Al Haymon (who reps Dirrell) and Goossen (who shares a cozy relationship with Haymon because of their associations with Paul Williams and Chris Arreola) worked in concert together in this instance. Well, as you look at the end result, you see that Haymon no longer has the problem in deciding where he’s going to be on that night (as another client of his, Andre Berto, is performing that evening in Las Vegas versus Freddie Hernandez on HBO) and Goossen, well, he gets to stage another Ward fight at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, which he wanted all along. And it just came to me that Dirrell claimed a “back injury” to postpone the original date of his bout with Abraham, which many insiders believe was just an attempt to move the fight from Southern California (which has a sizable Armenian population) to a friendlier locale. This bout eventually landed at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, not too far from Flint, where Dirrell hails from. Who knows? Maybe Dirrell really is damaged and his career is in jeopardy. If it is, I’ll be the first one to come forward and eat crow. But the reality is that anybody who decides to take up this dangerous sport and has done it for awhile will have some form of neurological damage; just the way a professional football player will most likely have knees or shoulders that may not be up to snuff. It’s what you call an occupational hazard. But there have been industry insiders who are far more knowledgeable than I am, who have felt (I guess now, known) for months that this bout was never, ever, going to take place. And they all point to one reason - Haymon, who will do whatever is in his own best interests at the expense of the overall sport. And speaking of No-More-Mr.-Nice-Guy, this is where Hershman has to step up and be heard. This innovative format was his brainchild and he put his heart and soul into making this work. But what do they say about no good deed going unpunished? If I’m Showtime, I hold everybody as legally accountable as possible in relation to their contractual obligations they signed on to. Also, I get out of the Haymon business; he has already damaged HBO’s boxing program with high-price, non-competitive bouts (the most recent example: the network shelling out a $1.25 million licensing fee from the Berto-Hernandez bout). It’s cringe-worthy to see Haymon’s tail now wag Showtime’s dog (Antonio Tarver on “ShoBox” as a heavyweight? Really?). (Ken, my friend, you know how much I admire you but please be the guy that had me dub you “The Czar.” Be the network executive that cares about his subscribers and the boxing fan. This concept was great for the fans and most of them bought into it. Now, they feel betrayed again. We already have a Kery Davis at HBO; we don’t need one at Showtime. Throw down the gauntlet and protect your boxing franchise, your “Super Six” and, most of all, the fans. Tell Haymon and his boxers to take their machinations and mismatches across the street.) Now, I know some of you are thinking I have gone all Oliver Stone here but I’m not the only one who feels this way. One highly-placed boxing insider, who has been around the block more than a few times, told me via email regarding Showtime perhaps regretting going into business with Haymon, "Ha! I would think that they should have noticed that by now! How much do you want to bet that Dirrell will suddenly recover from his head injuries as soon as the tournament is over and end up on HBO? Not to make light of what could be a serious thing but they just noticed this now?!" As for the remainder of the “Super Six.” Well, it’s difficult to call it that anymore in light of the fact that half of the original cast has gone exit stage left. I’m as big an advocate of this format as anyone but I’m beginning to think that, while fantastic in concept, in reality, it’s perhaps impossible to execute fully. Showtime came into this with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, some of those that willingly signed up for this did not, it seems. Once again, boxing has met the enemy- and it is thyself. And if you think that Jose Sulaiman giving out a bunch of “silver belts” is the biggest problem facing boxing, then you don’t know what you don’t know. As it relates to this edition of the “Super Six,” I’ll echo the words of*Brian Billick, the former coach of the Baltimore Ravens, after a controversial call went against him after the instant replay system failed him several years ago- it’s just time to blow this whole damn thing up. http://www.maxboxing.com/news/main-lead/no-more-mr-nice-guy
There's a Thing Called an UPPERCUT which will DISSUADE a Guy from "Leading w/his Head"....Clinches Happen in EVERY Boxing Match, Doub...Ward just Gets the BETTER of the Clinches.... Ward Beat the Shit Out of Kessler...OutJABBED him, OutFOUGHT him & Completely OUTCLASSED Him...If THAT was a "Dirty" Performance, then Roberto Duran Should have about 70+ DQ LOSSES on his Record.... REED:kidcool:
More bad news. Showtime showed great ambition setting this tourney up, hopefully the show can be rescued and put back on track. I personally think Dirrell didn't want to go to Oakland and can't blame him, how Ward a guy with no belt or No.1 ranking gets to have 3 fights in his hometown when more established champions had to travel is beyond me. For those that think Ward will won day fight Lucien Bute - It won't happen. Bute won't leave Montreal and Ward won't leave Oakland so fight won't be happening after the Super 6.
Wow! For boxing's sake, I almost wish Dirrell is damaged goods. How they set all this up and didn't already have venues agreed upon I don't know. It sucks that Ward doesn't even have to leave Oakland for this. Showtime has really gotten hosed. The sad part is these promoters/managers/etc.. who have corrupted this process are biting the hand that feeds them. They're too stupid to realize Showtime can just pack up their bags at anytime and leave boxing with one less venue to sell itself on. Maybe they're hoping HBO will step in and give them all million dollar bonuses to showcase their fighters against toughman challengers. :shit:
That is an excellent article by Steve Kim. Best writing I've seen since Charles Jay was doing his thing several years ago.
It's prtty obvious that he isn't really hurt. Neither guy wated this fight. Can't say im really dissapointed though, now if this was Froch-Abraham failing apart i would be dissapointed.
