Jack Has Officially Vacated

[Crazyboy]

Anthony Dirrell is absolutely tailor made for Callum Smith.

I see Smith stopping him, who is a lot faster and technical than the tough but very crude Bika.

Wait until you see Tesco Joe's masterplan though....

Throw no punches for 6 rounds then go all out?

Quigg v Frampton being a prime example of that....

[jameswilson]

This is a shame. Jack has outgrown 168, etc etc.

He'd be a relatively attractive opponent for, say, Stevenson or Kovalev but I can see him getting smashed up or outgunned ultimately at light heavyweight.

Yeah I wouldn't fancy Jack's chances against any of the big hitters at light heavy, but the winner of Cleverly/Braemer would be a winnable fight, it would make him (officially) a two weight world champion.

I'd imagine Jack would be a lucrative fight for the winner of that fight too.

[keirw]

This is a shame. Jack has outgrown 168, etc etc.

He'd be a relatively attractive opponent for, say, Stevenson or Kovalev but I can see him getting smashed up or outgunned ultimately at light heavyweight.

Yeah I wouldn't fancy Jack's chances against any of the big hitters at light heavy, but the winner of Cleverly/Braemer would be a winnable fight, it would make him (officially) a two weight world champion.

I'd imagine Jack would be a lucrative fight for the winner of that fight too.

Cleverly vs Jack would be a cracking fight aswell.

[Andrew]

Wait until you see Tesco Joe's masterplan though....

Throw no punches for 6 rounds then go all out?

Quigg v Frampton being a prime example of that....

Not at all Quigg did nothing for 8 rounds

I could go on and on about that one I was there, Gallagher has simply ruined Scott Quiggs career shame he doesn't realise that.

[Andrew]

Callum Smith v Anthony Dirrell is an interesting fight for a few reasons.

Whether you like or dislike him Joe Gallagher trained fighters consistently don't win at the top level as shown in 2016 but I would only say the Quigg defeat to Frampton is the only fight where the trainer should take responsibility for how that fight went. Other fights the fighter was simply not good enough and would not have won regardless of who trained them.

Unfortunately I could not find out what Dirrell has made for his most recent fights. He did make $500k for the Bika rematch. It's interesting where this fight will be. I remember when Dirrell was on IFL a while ago when Groves was his mandatory ( before Dirrell lost to Jack) he was insistent he would not come to the UK because of what happened to his brother v Froch. For world title fights Hearn has not been the best in a purse bid situation if a deal can't be made. It's not clear where the fight will be staged which is significant.

I'm also not sure what a crowd would be like for a Callum Smith world title fight. I've mentioned a few times for the fanfare they get on sky they don't have atmosphere at their fights ( apart from Fielding ). I remember the fight with Rebrasse which was a really good fight as well and he atmosphere was dead when it should not have been.

As for Callum 2016 was poor for him. When he battered Fielding he should have been stepped up or stayed at a similar level he was at ( Rebrasses Sjekloca type guys) until the world title fight instead of stepping back. He has instead lost momentum he gained from that win. I also remember the crowd being good too.

So why the loss of momentum since becoming mandatory ? I think it's a lack of confidence from his team. They won't not to risk a ranking but then it's no risk if you are confident in your fighter winning. He isn't the only fighter to do this. Look at Brook before he fought Porter.

As for Dirrell, when he fought Jack he struck me as someone who has a lot of ability but doesn't work hard enough in fights, which in the flip side is Badous best quality. I would lean towards Dirrell for sure but I'm interested how the bookies will have this. He had Smith 5/7 or similar to beat Jack and evens v Degale which was mental.

Could be some tasty odds for this one.

[Andrew]

This is a shame. Jack has outgrown 168, etc etc.

He'd be a relatively attractive opponent for, say, Stevenson or Kovalev but I can see him getting smashed up or outgunned ultimately at light heavyweight.

Yeah I wouldn't fancy Jack's chances against any of the big hitters at light heavy, but the winner of Cleverly/Braemer would be a winnable fight, it would make him (officially) a two weight world champion.

I'd imagine Jack would be a lucrative fight for the winner of that fight too.

Cleverly doesn't hold a world title.

Be a good fight though.

[wesshaw1985]

TGB won the purse bid - http://www.BS.com/anthony-dirr ... on--114271