In a highly anticipated return, Jermain Taylor and Andre Dirrell both provided entertainment in two separate bouts on December 30th . Taylor, former undisputed middleweight champion who was derailed after a loss to Kelly Pavlik and a move to super middleweight, returned to the ring after taking two years off. Dirrell, who suffered from neurological problems stemming from an illegal blow in a bout against Arthur Abraham, returned after being cleared by doctors.
Let us evaluate the performance of Andre Dirrell first. Dirrell fought Darryl Cunningham, a club fighter who is best known for being left standing alone after Kelly Pavlik suffered a career damaging personally induced setback. Dirrell proved to be the bigger and quicker man from the first bell. Using his significantly faster hand speed, Dirrell was able to control the action and land as he pleased against Cunningham. Showing previously unknown one punch knockout power, Dirrell land a huge shot in the second round to floor Cunningham. Cunningham beat the count, and after an odd situation with the ref and Cunningham’s corner, time resumed. Dirrell was able to knockdown Cunningham again which led to his corner throwing in the towel. This was an impressive return for Dirrell. The performance opens up many interesting options for Dirrell and throws him right back into the super-middleweight mix.
Jermain Taylor followed Dirrell with a fight against Jessie Nicklow. From the start, it was very apparent that Nicklow would give Taylor a good workout at best. Nicklow was shorter, less reach, and a significant disadvantage in hand speed. Taylor looked good as it was expected. Nicklow was the ruler in which Taylor measured exactly where his skills stood after a long layoff. Taylor pumped his jab all night and used his right hand sparingly. Later we learned that the right hand was damaged early on in the fight. All hoped for a mid-round knockout , but a TKO was not achieved until the eighth. Nicklow was never a big threat but hanging and absorbing every jab and left hook that Taylor threw.
The TKO unraveled after Taylor landed a beautiful right hand that stunned Nicklow. I believe that if Taylor had not injured his right hand and was able to throw it as he pleased, Nicklow would have been stopped earlier. Regardless, it was an entertaining performance. I’m excited to see Taylor fight a true contender and really put himself back into the mix and title contention.
The returns were a good way to end 2011.
Each fighter was matched softly and did what they had to, I think Taylor should have retired instead of an attempted comeback. Dirrell is very talented and probably the most legit threat to Ward because to me Bute is unproven and should not be labled undefeated as most of us know Andrade really won that first fight. Even though Ward/Dirrell may be a techincal bore and a horrible sell I think it could go either way.
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