Sakio Bika vs Anthony Dirrell 2

Anthony Dirrell won the World Boxing Council super-middleweight championship from Sakio Bika by unanimous decision at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, on August 16, 2014. It was their second meeting in eight months. The first, fought in Brooklyn in December 2013, had ended in a draw after Dirrell had dropped Bika in the fifth round but failed to maintain his advantage. Bika entered the return as champion with a record of 32 wins, five defeats and three draws. Dirrell remained unbeaten at 26-0-1 and was attempting to complete a recovery which had already taken him through non-Hodgkin lymphoma and serious injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident.

Dirrell began more aggressively than he had in the first contest. He crossed the ring at the opening bell and landed a right hand before Bika could settle. The champion immediately answered with the rough, forceful work upon which much of his career had been built. The two men held, pushed and wrestled as often as they exchanged clean punches, and referee Jack Reiss was occupied from the early rounds in separating them. Bika advanced with wide hooks and chopping rights, sometimes carrying himself forward with such force that a missed punch left him badly out of position. Dirrell used the straighter and quicker blows, switching between orthodox and southpaw positions and catching Bika as the champion came in.

The contest remained disorderly through the opening third. Bika tried to make it a close fight, leaning his weight upon Dirrell and working whenever one arm became free. Dirrell was the more accurate boxer at distance but was repeatedly drawn into wrestling and exchanges after the bell. Neither man established a smooth rhythm. Bika’s pressure gave him opportunities, yet his punches often travelled too widely, while Dirrell’s shorter right hands were easier to see and score. The challenger generally landed the cleaner blow before the men fell together.

Dirrell produced his strongest early work in the fifth round. He caught Bika with a series of hard punches near the close and knocked the champion’s mouthpiece free. Bika was shaken but remained upright and returned for the sixth with his customary determination. He pressed Dirrell hard during the middle rounds and landed several heavy punches of his own, at times forcing the challenger backwards. Dirrell did not allow the attacks to develop for long. He answered with straight rights, tied Bika up when the distance closed and moved away before the champion could sustain an inside assault.

The eighth round brought the principal disciplinary incident. Bika landed low, and Reiss deducted a point. The champion reacted angrily and attacked with renewed force, throwing both hands as Dirrell stood and answered. It was one of the more spirited passages of a contest which had otherwise been broken repeatedly by holding and physical struggle. Bika’s aggression kept the round competitive, but the deduction made his position increasingly difficult. He now required a strong finish against a challenger who had been landing the clearer punches for much of the night.

Dirrell controlled the championship rounds with greater assurance. Bika continued to come forward, but his attacks had lost speed and authority. His face was bruised, and his punches no longer carried the same force. Dirrell remained fresher, stepped away from the wild swings and scored with the straight right as Bika advanced. The challenger did not attempt to force a stoppage. He boxed knowing that Bika’s pressure was becoming less effective and that the cleaner work was steadily extending his lead. Bika remained dangerous enough to demand attention, but he could not trap Dirrell for the sustained exchanges he required.

There were no knockdowns, although both men went to the floor during wrestling exchanges rather than from legal punches. The roughness continued until the final bell, with Reiss repeatedly intervening between them. Bika had forced much of the physical contest and had rocked Dirrell on occasions, but his work was too untidy and intermittent to overcome the challenger’s sharper punching. Dirrell had been more composed at range, more accurate with the right hand and better able to preserve his strength through the closing rounds.

Judges Dave Moretti, Burt Clements and Steve Morrow all scored for Dirrell. Their totals were 117-110, 116-111 and 114-113. The narrowest card reflected the rounds in which Bika’s pressure and heavier individual punches had kept him close, while the two wider scores rewarded Dirrell’s superior accuracy and his control of the later stages. The point deducted from Bika in the eighth contributed directly to the final margin, though Dirrell’s victory did not depend upon it on two of the cards. He therefore became WBC super-middleweight champion and advanced his record to 27 wins and one draw. Bika suffered his sixth professional defeat and lost the title he had won from Marco Antonio Periban the previous year.

The bout was not an orderly exhibition. Much of it consisted of clinching, shoving and missed swings, and the action came in short bursts rather than extended combinations. Dirrell nevertheless corrected the chief failing of the first fight. He did not allow Bika’s aggression alone to determine the impression of the rounds. By meeting the champion early, landing the straighter punches and remaining in control as Bika tired, he turned another awkward contest into a clear championship victory.

Dirrell got it right the second time. Their first fight was a draw because he allowed Bika’s mauling and pressure to blur too many rounds. In the rematch, he met him early, landed the straighter punches and refused to let the champion’s roughness become the whole story.

Bika was still a horrible man to fight, strong, awkward and willing to turn every exchange into wrestling—but too much of his work was wild and untidy. The low-blow deduction hurt him, yet it did not decide the fight.

I had Dirrell winning clearly. He controlled the range better, landed cleaner right hands, and finished fresher. The 114-113 card was too close; 116-111 was nearer the truth. It was not pretty, but it was a deserved title win.