Dirrell-Uzecategui 2 WON’T take place on Wilder vs. Ortiz card on Mar.3

Boxingnews24.com

By Jim Dower:

Rumors of the rematch between Andre Dirrell (26-2, 16 KOs) and Jose Uzcategui (26-2, 22 KOs) taking place on the undercard of the heavyweight fight between WBC champion Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz on March 3 on Showtime are false, according to Dan Rafael.

As of now, there are no plans in place for the Dirrell vs. Uzecategui rematch to take place on the undercard of the Wilder-Ortiz fight on Showtime at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The International Boxing Federation has ordered Dirrell and Uzcategui to face each other in a rematch to clear up the controversy surrounding their fight last year on May 20. That fight ended in controversy after the 27-year-old Uzcategui (26-2, 22 KOs) knocked Dirrell (26-2, 16 KOs) by hitting him after the bell in the 8th round. The referee Bill Clancy then disqualified Uzcategui for the late punch. Dirrell, 34, was too badly hurt to get back up and resume fighting. If Dirrell had been able to continue fighting, the referee wouldn’t have disqualified Uzcategui. After the end fight ended, Dirrell’s Leon Lawson Jr. nailed Uzcategui with a punch to the head.

“March 3 doesn’t currently include Dirrell-Uzcategui, and no one has suggested it to me yet,” said Showtime Sports executive vice president Stephen Espinoza. “But it’s a good fight, and if asked, we would be interested and we’d like to put it somewhere on Showtime.”

Espinoza makes it pretty clear that the Dirrell vs. Uzcategui 2 fight will not be shown on the Wilder vs. Ortiz card. It could be a money issue. It’s hard to say. Wilder and Ortiz will make good money for their March 3 fight.

Dirrell is currently the interim IBF super middleweight champion. The IBF 168 lb. champion Caleb Truax. He recently beat IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale by a 12 round majority decision on December 9 to capture the IBF belt.

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Uzcategui is going to need to take control over his punching after the bell, as he did that previously in the fight with the 2004 U.S Olympian Dirrell. Uzcategui was having such a hard time landing his big power shots. Dirrell was an inviting target with the way he was fighting in the corner against the ropes so frequently in the fight. Uzcategui was missing with almost everything he threw. When the rounds would end, Uzcategui wouldn’t stop throwing punches. He wanted to hit Dirrell so badly.

If Uzcategui fights like that in the rematch, he might get disqualified again. We’ve seen Dirrell win 2 fights by disqualification during his 13-year pro career. The first time it occurred was in the Super Six Series tournament in 2010, when Dirrell was hit by Arthur Abraham after he slipped on the canvas in the 11th round. Dirrell was in the sitting position on the canvas when Abraham nailed him with a hard right hand. Dirrell then collapsed onto his side and appeared to be unconscious for a moment. The referee Laurence Cole then disqualified Abraham.