Andre Dirrell (born September 7, 1983) 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 ...

who held the IBF

interim An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities. Interim may also refer to: Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept) *Provis ...

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 pound ...

title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. His younger brother

Anthony Dirrell Anthony Dirrell (born October 14, 1984) is an American professional boxer. He was a two-time WBC super middleweight champion, having held the title in 2019 and previously from 2014 to 2015. He is the younger brother of 2004 Olympic bronze medali ...

is also a professional boxer.

Amateur career

Dirrell and his younger brother

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the ''Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

began boxing while still in elementary school in their hometown of Flint, Michigan. The brothers have been trained from the beginning by grandfather Leon "Bumper" Lawson Sr., a former sparring partner of

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, ...

, and uncle Leon Jr. Dirrell was a standout as an amateur and won the 2003 United States national amateur championships at middleweight. He also competed at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

, with his results being: * Lost to

Yordanis Despaigne Yordanis Despaigne Herrera (born February 12, 1980) is a Cuban professional boxer who, as an amateur boxer, has medaled repeatedly in international tournaments as a middleweight. Career In Belfast at the 2001 World Amateur Boxing Championsh ...

(Cuba) 20-21 He qualified for the Olympic Games by finishing in first place at the 1st AIBA American 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in

Tijuana, Mexico Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

. Prior to the Athens Games he won the 2004 Acropolis Boxing Cup in

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

by defeating Cuba's Yordanis Despaigne in the final of the middleweight division. He won the middleweight bronze medal for the United States at the 2004

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in Athens, Greece. His results were: * Defeated Ha Dabateer ( China) 25–18 * Defeated Nabil Kassel (

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , religi ...

) RSC 2 * Defeated

(

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

) 21–20 * Lost to

Gennady Golovkin Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin ( Cyrillic: ; also spelled Gennady; born 8 April 1982), often known by his nickname "GGG" or "Triple G", is a Kazakhstani professional boxer. He has held multiple middleweight world championships, and is a two-t ...

(

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental coun ...

) 18–23 Dirrell completed an amateur record of 210–26.

Professional career

Dirrell began his professional career in 2005. A southpaw possessing exceptional athleticism and the ability to switch-hit, he was considered among boxing's top young prospects following an extensive amateur career. Dirrell defeated future world title challenger Curtis Stevens on HBO's

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 Boxi ...

in June 2007.

Super Six World Boxing Classic

Dirrell was one of the six super-middleweights who competed in Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic, a boxing tournament, along with

Arthur Abraham Avetik Abrahamyan ( hy, Ավետիք Աբրահամյան; born 20 February 1980), best known as Arthur Abraham, is an Armenian-German former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight ...

Andre Ward Andre Michael Ward (born February 23, 1984) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and held multiple world titles in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super ...

Carl Froch Carl Martin Froch, (born 2 July 1977) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2014, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held multiple super-middleweight world championships, including the WB ...

Mikkel Kessler Mikkel Kessler (born 1 March 1979) is a Danish former professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2013. He held multiple super-middleweight world championships, including the WBA title three times between 2004 and 2013, and the WBC title twic ...

and

Jermain Taylor Jermain Taylor (born August 11, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He remains the most recent undisputed middleweight champion, having won the WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, ''Ring'' magazine, ...

. His first fight and only loss was against England's Carl Froch on October 18 for the WBC Super Middleweight Championship.Andre Dirrell – Boxer
. Boxrec.com. Retrieved on 2014-08-12. Two of the judges scored the fight 115-112 for Froch, with the third scoring it 114-113 for Dirrell. On March 27, 2010, Dirrell faced undefeated former Middleweight Champion Arthur Abraham in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. In the fourth round, Dirrell knocked Abraham down for the first time in his career. Dirrell was outboxing Abraham throughout the bout and comfortably ahead on the scorecards 97-92, 98-91, and 97-92. In the 11th round, a slick spot in the corner of the ring caused Dirrell to slip to one knee. While down, Abraham delivered a punch to the chin of Dirrell; a delayed reaction was followed by Dirrell lying on the ground, unconscious and shaking. The referee ruled the blow by Abraham an intentional foul and awarded Dirrell a victory via disqualification. Some critics contested the ending of the fight, claiming that Dirrell may have overreacted after Abraham's final punch. However, Dirrell said he was really knocked out and did not know what happened after he fell down. On October 7, 2010, Dirrell declined to face his friend and eventual Super Six tournament winner

, and announced that he was withdrawing from the tournament due to neurological issues.

After Super Six

Dirrell took a 21-month layoff to heal from the neurological injuries sustained in the Abraham fight. Dirrell defeated Darryl Cunningham via second-round technical knockout. Thirteen months after that, Dirrell made a return to the ring with a unanimous decision win against Michael Gbenga after knocking him down in round 9. Andre was set to headline Friday Night Fights on April 12, 2013, but withdrew for undisclosed reasons. Eighteen months after the Gbenga fight, Dirrell returned to score a fifth-round KO against Vladine Biosse.

Dirrell vs. DeGale

On May 23, 2015, Andre Dirrell fought against British star

James DeGale James Frederick DeGale (born 3 February 1986) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2019. He held the IBF super-middleweight title twice between 2015 and 2018, and regionally the European and British super-middle ...

at the Agganis Arena in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

. DeGale gained two knockdowns in the second round, which proved to be the difference as he won a unanimous decision over Dirrell to win a 168-pound world title. DeGale won 114-112 on two judges’ scorecards and 117-109 on the third.

Dirrell vs. Uzcategui I

On May 20, 2017, Dirrell faced Jose Uzcategui for the vacant IBF interim super middleweight title. Uzcategui was disqualified in the eighth round for punching after the bell, and Dirrell was awarded the DQ victory. After the fight was stopped, Dirrell's trainer and uncle Leon Lawson approached Uzcategui and sucker-punched him before fleeing the scene. After the incident, Dirrell apologized for his trainer's actions.

Dirrell vs. Uzcategui II

In the rematch, Uzcategui dominated Dirrell over eight rounds, and forced Dirrell's corner to stop the fight right at the beginning of the ninth round.

Dirrell vs Cabrera

In his comeback fight, Dirrell fought and defeated Juan Ubalado Cabrera via KO in the fifth round.

Dirrell vs Brooker

On July 31, 2021, Dirrell fought Christopher Booker. Dirrell finished his opponent early, by dropping him three times in the third round, forcing the referee to stop the fight.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Andre Dirrell profile
at ''

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 ...

''
Andre Dirrell on Abraham, Kessler and Froch
at BoxingInsider
Andre Dirrell - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dirrell, Andre 1983 births Living people Boxers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Boxers from Michigan Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in boxing Sportspeople from Flint, Michigan Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers American male boxers African-American boxers Super-middleweight boxers Middleweight boxers Boxers at the 2003 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for the United States 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people