Andre Dirrell does not approve of trainer Leon Lawson's sucker punch that has caused tremendous uproar in the boxing community.
Dirrell talked with RingTV and said he had been communicating with Lawson, who suckered punch Jose Uzcategui at the end of his fight against Dirrell, which ended in a disqualification win for Dirrell.
"I talked to him yesterday and said, ‘You shouldn’t have did that.’ I didn’t agree with it at all," Dirrell said. "People who don’t love him, I understand how they feel. He loves his family, he hated the fact that I got (fouled) again. My career has been a rollercoaster, and I mean one of the most frightening roller coasters. It hasn’t been easy. My uncle wanted me to have a smooth fight. He knew I didn’t deserve (to be fouled), especially toward the end of my career.”
Dirrell also said Lawson is a loyal person to his family and wanted to stand up for his fighter.
“(Lawson is) just a really, really loyal guy, man,” Dirrell said. “He saw my kids crying and it happened to me before with Arthur Abraham and he was fed up. It happens to me in sparring often because (fighters) can’t get off like they want to.”
The incident happened on May 20 when Uzcategui was still punching Dirrell after the bell when the eighth round ended and Dirrell was then named the winner, becoming the IBF interim middleweight world champion. The current IBF champion is James DeGale and still recovering from injuries suffered in his January fight against Badou Jack. Lawson is suspended indefinitely by the WBC.
