Super middleweight Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13KOs) revealed that he's ready to return to the ring after being cleared by a doctor.
Dirrell has not fought since last March. In the fight, he slipped down to the mat in the eleventh round and was hit by a punch from Arthur Abraham. The referee issued a disqualification call on Abraham. Later on, he was set to face his close friend, Andre Ward, in the third stage of the Super Six tournament but he withdrew from the fight after claiming neurological problems, boxingscene.com reported.
There are people who feel that he faked the injury to dodge a fight with Ward. He later fueled the critics by stating that a fight with Ward was being done "too early." Leading up to that fight, there were rumors the two boxers had no intention of fighting each other and the date of the fight was postponed. Just when the fight appeared to be on the verge of taking place, Dirrell withdrew from the entire Super Six with the injury. He once again voiced the opinion that a fight with Ward was taking place too early.
"The Super Six was a beautiful opportunity for me but I don’t believe that it was the right time. Unfortunately this did happen, and we would’ve had our time to shine and we would have had a great crowd but I know it could be better with both of us carrying a championship, both of us at the high rise of our career, (and) at the peak of our performance. People are going to pay to see us. It’s definitely a potential big fight and I don’t want to sell it short," he said.
As the boxer noted, he is actively looking for his next fight and hopes to be back in the ring in either March or April of this year in a tune-up bout. Dirrell wants a fight with IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute within in the next seven months.
