Andre Dirrell trainer blames Arthur Abraham for neurological problems
Andre Dirrell has dropped out out of the Super Six tournament, and fingers are being pointed to account for the boxer's injuries.
Dirrell pulled out of the Showtime organized tournament yesterday, citing neurological problems as the reason. He was scheduled to fight good friend Andre Ward on November 27. The news caused pandemonium in the boxing world and for the tournament, especially
since Dirrell is the third original participant to bow out without making it past a third-round bout.
According to Leon Lawson Jr., Dirrell’s uncle and co-trainer, Dirrell’s neurological problems, as diagnosed by a doctor, are likely due to a shot that Arthur Abraham took in the last round of competition.
A former IBF middleweight champion, Abraham travelled to Detroit to take on Dirrell in March. He was disqualified in the 11th round of their bout for hitting Dirrell after he slipped and fell partially to the canvas. After the shot, Dirrell went
into what appeared to be a prophylactic seizure, and Abraham was immediately disqualified.
"Andre hadn't had any problems before that fight. The whole world saw the punch, and it caught Andre off guard. I was worried that night. Andre ended up complaining about it and things like that," Lawson Jr. confirmed.
According to promoter Gary Shaw and Lawson Jr., Dirrell has been complaining of headaches and dizzy spells frequently.
Lawson Jr. said Dirrell’s camp had hoped symptoms would dissipate in due time, but haven’t. “They did MRIs and CAT scans,” he said. “That's what they did. They found that he was still concussed from the punch and the injury in the fight. They recommended
that Andre be at least three months symptom-free before he would even consider giving him the go-ahead to go back into the ring.”
Dirrell’s camp also said that because he has not been training for the November fight, due to the injury, he is problematically overweight. As a super middleweight, his fighting limit is 168 pounds, and he is reportedly walking around at about 190 pounds.
Tags: