he suffered neurological damage after the illegal punch thrown by arthur abraham during their super 6 bout. the damage forced him too withdraw from the tournament. and essentially take a hiatus from the sport.

i suspect he's lost his fighter's passion since he's only fought once since the abraham bout. the fight was against journeyman darryl cunningham. dirrell easily disposed of him in two rounds, but hasn't been seen in the ring since.

my guess is that he's lost the taste for the fight game after being brutally KO'd by abraham. if you saw the fight you know direll was fucked up after the fight, he had no idea what happened to him and was crying and deeply traumatized. paired with the neurological damage he suffered, it may have helped him to realize there are more important things to him than the sport of boxing.

i've recently read that he'll be promoted by 50 and mayweather's new promotional company... so he may be making a return to the ring.