Oct. 12 in Nottingham, England as the unbeaten American winds down preparation for his fight showdown against WBC Super Middleweight champ Carl Froch this Saturday at the Trent FM Arena.
Dirrell will take on Froch as part of Group Stage 1 of SHOWTIME’s® groundbreaking Super Six World Boxing Classic at LIVE at 8 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast) on SHOWTIME.
“King” Arthur Abraham (30-0, 24 KOs) of Berlin, Germany, will face former undisputed middleweight titleholder Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor (28-3-1, 17 KOs) of Little Rock, Ark., from the o2 World Arena in Berlin, Germany on same-day-tape-delay.
NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND NEW YORK (Oct. 12, 2009)
On fighting Froch for the WBC World Super Middleweight title:
“I want that belt, that's my sole mission and I plan on taking it back to America. I can't wait to get in that ring and shine and show the world what I can do.”
On the Super Six tournament:
“You got all the stars and you can't ask for more that that. You got four world champions, you got four undefeated fighters and all six of us in this tournament have the will to win, to bring something new to the game and become superstars. This tournament holds the cream of the crop and a star will emerge and I believe that star is going to be me.”
On his tip for reaching the Super Six final:
“I favor Mikkel Kessler to get to the final, I don't favor him to beat me of course, I don't favor anybody to beat me.”
On jetlag following his arrival and fighting against Froch at 2 a.m. in the morning:
“I'm feeling good. I'm not worried about the jetlag because the fight is going to be at 2 a.m. here, which is 8 p.m. back in the States, and that's the time I'm used to fighting at anyway. I’ve adjusted my schedule while I’m here to work out to those times so I’ll be doing my workouts this week at 2 in the morning.”
On the remainder of fight week:
“Everything's done. The hard work is done and I'm in the best shape I can possibly be in so this is cool down week”
For more information on the Super Six World Boxing Classic including exclusive videos, photography, expert analysis from Al Bernstein and Steve Farhood, and much more please visit www.WorldBoxingClassic.com.
About SUPER SIX WORLD BOXING CLASSIC
The inaugural Super Six World Boxing Classic is a ground-breaking, six-fighter tournament from SHOWTIME Sports® featuring the class of the super middleweight (168-pound) division. The field is comprised world renowned fighters with a staggering combined record of 161-4-1 with 117 knockouts: former IBF middleweight champion “King” Arthur Abraham of Germany; U.S. Olympic medalist Andre “The Matrix” Dirrell of Flint, Mich.; WBC super middleweight champion Carl “The Cobra” Froch of England; WBA 168-pound champion Mikkel “Viking Warrior” Kessler of Denmark; former undisputed 160-pound world champion Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor of Little Rock, Ark.; and U.S. Olympic gold medalist Andre “S.O.G.” Ward of Oakland, Calif.
All bouts in the Super Six World Boxing Classic will be contested under the Unified Rules of Boxing. Each boxer fights three bouts against different opponents in the field in the points-based Group Stage of competition (Win – 2 pts with a 1-pt bonus for KO/TKO; Loss – 0 pts; Draw – 1 pt.). After the Group Stage, the four fighters with the highest point totals will advance to the single-elimination Semi-Finals. The winners of the Semi-Final bouts will advance to the Finals and fight for the inaugural Super Six World Boxing Classic trophy.
