Anthony Dirrell

Found him very frustrating last night. Hurts Bika early and builds a nice lead through 5, but then his work rate drops to almost nothing and he allows Bika to bully his way back into the fight. A draw was a fair result, but it was there for Dirrell to take. He started complaining a lot. too. Much like his brother does. I will say that Bika always gives cause for at least some complaint, and last night was no exception, but Dirrell seemed to lose focus. Good banger, good combo's when he throws them, but not enough work from Dirrell last night. As for Andre, who knows what he is playing at?

What did you guys think of this one?

I got increasingly frustrated with him last night, he had it all in the bag and threw it away, I think he still had plenty in the tank at the end as well.

He has all the talent and the power to go a long way, just didn't put it together last night enough.

Overall, a draw was ok I thought, but it was the least Bika deserved and the best case scenario for Dirrell's performance.

Anthony seems to have more confidence in his chin and inside game than his brother has, but just doesn't have that same elusiveness, hand speed or slippery style. His biggest problem seems to be that lack of focus and a tendency to drift in and out of fights at times, which both of the Dirrells have.

He was boxing very smoothly for three rounds last night, but as soon as Bika started roughing him up and getting him to the ropes consistently from the fourth onwards, he seemed to be shocked back in to his shell and lost heart a bit when the referee didn't come to his aid whenever he looked to him to complain, which was a lot (although in fairness, Bika as ever was as dirty as they come).

Great fifth round from Dirrell, which put him 4-1 up for me, but after that I struggled to give him too much. Clowning away the final round like that just strengthens the idea that, much like Andre, Anthony needs to instil a bit more grit and industry to his game if he wants to reach his potential.

Thing is Chris, every time he opened up on Bika he seemed to stun him a bit, but after the fifth he tended to just stand in front of Bika and wait for countering opportunities. Thing is, Bika is a veteran who roughs you up after throwing his windmill punches, so opportunities to get off clean are not that easy to find. Industry is right. Dirrell has the skillset and punch power to be a top fighter in the division, but needs to focus more and improve his work rate.

I agree with Sean, when ever Dirrell caught Bika clean he hurt him, he just didn't do it enough.

Looked about half as talented as his brother Andre with twice the heart. Decent effort from Dirrell, particularly in the first half of the fight but just didn't let his hands go often enough. Don't know what it is with the Dirrells but they just seem to miss that something needed to get to the top.

he was badly hurt in the 6th round. I think the body shots really took affect on him, and he went into defensive mode from then onwards. he had a right to complain about some of Bikas work, however he was doing himself no favours by being so vocal. he gave bika more and more confidence every time he showed he was unhappy with how things were progressing. certainly nowhere near as talented as his brother.

Good points being made by all, IMO. I have to say, why didn't his corner push him on more? They seemed to think he was cruising to a win. I don't know how anybody could have thought it wasn't a razor close fight.

his brother seemed to be trying to push him on, so did some of the others. seemed like they were treading a tad carefully though. maybe Anthony has quite fragile confidence and they didn't want to be critical. certainly got the impression his brother thought he needed more rounds than he did