Quote Originally Posted by shza View Post
OK, I googled the odds and you guys are right that Abraham was a very slight favorite at match-time. That strikes me as absolutely crazy and I wish I'd have paid attention at the time and put money on it. Even aside from being thoroughly exposed against Dirrell, Abraham was always a pure, no-offense, punching-bag as long as they other guy was throwing. And as bad as Froch's "style" is, the guy can clearly stand and throw all day long. I didn't think it would even be close going into it (and, of course, it wasn't).
I disagree that Abraham was thoroughly exposed against Dirrell. I actually thought Abraham was getting to Dirrell in the later rounds, which prior to Ward and Froch, was par for the course for Abraham. As evidence I would put forward that Abraham was actually the favorite going into the Froch fight, which occurred after the Dirrell fight. Most bettors saw Abraham have a strong surge at the end and that he was notorious for starting slow. Thus, he would start slow against Froch and then ko him during the later rounds. If I recall, Abraham put Dirrell down once and the ref missed it or maybe it was called a knockdown. Dirrell outboxed him though during the course of the whole bout.