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Showtime Championship Boxing Recap

November 1, 2008

Home Depot Center-Carson, California

 

 

There has been heavy rain in the greater Los Angeles area all day and more is expected over the arena during this event. Therefore, attendance at this show is limited to a few hardcore fans. The official number is 3,076, but some of them may be disguised as empty seats.

 

WBO NABO Super Middleweight (168 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Andre Dirrell (16-0, 11 KO's, 167.5 pounds) vs. Victor Oganov (28-1, 28 KO's, 167.5 pounds)

 

This title is currently vacant. It was last held by Andre Ward, who vacated the title following an injury he suffered playing pick up basketball this summer.

 

Dirrell had a stellar amateur career boxing career that was capped by winning the bronze medal for the United States at 165 pounds at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games.

 

The Olympian is developing a reputation of being a Tim Sylvia level boring boxer. He has tremendous skills, but seems unwilling to use them in matches against over-matched opponents. HBO wanted to make him a featured boxer on the undercards of their HBO Boxing After Dark events. However, he was so boring in winning a 10-round unanimous decision over Curtis Stevens on June 16, 2007 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut that the network abandoned those plans. The original recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/8/5/preview-of-andre-dirrell-vs-mike-paschall.html

 

Dirrell's last match was a technical knockout victory via a cut at 1:32 of round 4 over Mike Paschall on August 2, 2008 at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington. Paschall was brought in on short notice to lose in exciting fashion to Dirrell. However, Dirrell scored a single punch knockdown when he cut Paschall, but was boring the rest of the match. Dirrell had even lost 1 of the first 3 rounds on all of the judges scorecards to a boxer who had never had a match outside of Maryland.

 

Dirrell is unranked by The Ring magazine, and the number 12 ranked boxer in the world at 168 pounds by boxrec.com.

 

Oganov had a solid amateur career compiling a record of 64-16 for his native Russia.

 

This is his third match in the United States. He is 1-1 in the United States, with the loss coming by technical knockout at 1:25 of round 9 to Fulgencio Zuniga on September 1, 2007 at the Emerald Queen Casino. That match was for also for a relatively minor vacant belt at 168 pounds, but with a win in this match he will become the mandatory challenger for a major belt in this weight class.

 

Now residing in Australia, Oganov's last match was a knockout victory at 2:38 of round 2 over Peter Kariuki on April 4, 2008 at Shark Park in Townsville, Queensville, Australia.

 

Oganov is unranked by The Ring and the number 16 ranked boxer in the world at 168 pounds by boxrec.com.

 

At 26-years-old, Dirrell is 6 years younger then the 32-year-old Oganov. Dirrell holds the height advantage standing 6' 1" tall, while Oganov stands 5' 8.5" tall. The American has the reach advantage with a 74" wingspan, compared to the 68.5" wingspan of Oganov. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available, but Dirrell should be the much heavier boxer in the ring. Oganov will employ the orthodox stance. Dirrell will primarily employ the southpaw stance, but will switch frequently during the course of a match.

 

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. All of the official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from California. The referee is Ray Corona.

 

Dirrell put on a show pounding on Oganov in round 1. The 2004 Olympian easily takes round 1, 10-9. It was a borderline 10-8 round, and would have been, but Dirrell stopped working in the last 30 seconds or so of the round. This seemed to be because he was having problems with his trunks or cup riding up or out of place causing the boxer a great deal of discomfort in his man region. Dirrell wins round 2 in impressive fashion, 10-9. This is the exciting Dirrell people have been waiting years to see. With 2:34 to go in round 3, Oganov pushes down on the head of Dirrell and the 2004 Olympian goes to a knee on the mat. The referee correctly rules it a slip. The action is quickly resumed with 2:30 to go in the round. Dirrell is too fast and too slick defensively for Oganov. The American wins round 3, 10-9. It seems like Dirrell is landing every punch he throws. A combination from Dirrell in the final 10 seconds of round 3 cut Oganov open. It was probably a left uppercut from the southpaw that caused the blood to begin flow heavily from above Oganov's right eye. Oganov's cut man did a terrible job administering to the cut between rounds and it is bleeding just as badly when the bell sounds to start round 4 as when the bell sounded to end round 3. That cut is bleeding directly into Oganov's eye. He is going to have problems seeing Dirrell's punches coming and Oganov was already unable to get out of the Olympian's punches. At 2:58 of round 4, the referee immediately calls time before the action can start to have Oganov's cut examined. The doctor says Oganov is okay to continue and the match is quickly resumed. The referee has ruled that the cut came from a punch. Therefore, a premature stoppage from the cut would give Dirrell another technical knockout victory via cut. With 1:42 to go in round 4, Oganov hammers Dirrell with a left hand to the groin and the American drops in agony to a knee on the mat. Dirrell grabbing his cup from his knee begins to plead with the referee that he was dropped by a low blow. The referee agrees and lightly warns Oganov. Strangely, instead of giving Dirrell the usual 5 minutes to recover from being fouled, he is ordering the boxer to immediately return to action. Dirrell is still in a great deal of pain and struggling to get his breath back, but must return to action with 1:35 to go in the round. Oganov has begun to pour on the offense on the illegally weakened Dirrell. Then, Dirrell pushes Oganov away to create some space to work with his longer arms with 41 seconds to go in the round and the referee gives Dirrell a stern warning for pushing. The referee says the next push will cost Dirrell a point. Dirrell overcomes the abysmal refereeing to still win round 4, 10-9. After 4 rounds, Dirrell leads on my scorecard, 40-36. All of the press keeping unofficial score of this event for Showtime from ringside have Dirrell ahead after 4 rounds: 40-36, 40-36, 40-36.

 

The referee has the doctor stand in Oganov's corner during the break between rounds 4 and 5. That way the doctor can immediately check the cut above Oganov's eye when the bell sounds to start round 5 to see if the boxer is fit to continue. The doctor checked the cut over Oganov's eye at the start of round 5 and ruled the boxer is fit to continue. Dirrell is leaning on Oganov with 49 seconds to go in round 5, but then the Russian born boxer moves and the American finds himself kneeling on the ground. The referee correctly rules it a slip and the action is quickly restarted with 43 seconds to go in the round. Dirrell wins round 5, 10-9. Dirrell is starting to look tired. With 2:32 to go in round 6, the referee has waved off the match for no apparent reason. He has declared Dirrell the winner via technical knockout, but Oganov was not hurt at the time of the stoppage. That is baffling. The crowd is booing. The referee is apparently stopping the match, based on an accumulation of punches. However, Oganov was not taking a combination or anything severe at the time. He had been hit a lot in the match, but that was a terrible stoppage.

 

The official outcome from the always "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr.: at 28 seconds of round 6 the referee has called a stop to this contest making the winner by technical knockout, still undefeated, and the new WBO NABO Super Middleweight Champion, Andre "The Matrix" Dirrell. The win moves Dirrell to 17-0 with 12 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

Dirrell in his post match interview said nothing of note.

 

The referee in his post match interview that Oganov took a studder step following a punch from Dirrell. That caused him to stop the match so Oganov was not hurt. The crowd in the building was able to hear this interview and booed it.

 

Dirrell was dominant in this match and finally appeared to be the exciting boxer fans have wanted him to be. At the time of the stoppage all of the judges had Dirrell winning every round and one of them did give round 1 to Dirrell, 10-8. This win has made Dirrell the mandatory challenger to the winner of the Dennis Inkin vs. Karoly Balzsay match scheduled for January 10 in Germany. That long delay will probably force Dirrell to take a tune-up match against a weak opponent on Showtime, before he gets his title shot in April or May.

 

Oganov could not match the hand speed of Dirrell and at 32-years-old still has not beaten a top opponent. Even though the referee stepped in too early, Oganov probably would not have lasted much longer with the 2004 Olympian. Oganov is probably going to return to Australia and continue defeating mediocre 168-pound boxers.