Quote Originally Posted by Rantcatrat View Post

Well, it's possible they weighed the options and thought it was worse for Dirrell if he took a bad beating at the hands of Ward, followed by being knocked out of the S6 in the first round after going 0-2 with one DQ win. Then where is he? Or take the time off to regroup and gradually return to the ring. He still comes away with the exposure the S6 brought and he wasn't humiliated by being knocked out early.

The above-poster was spot-on that said the dq ko by AA was legit but the severity of the injury was exaggerated in order to avoid fighting and losing to Ward.

The primary problem I see for Dirrell now is that he avoided the Ward fight, but now the only way he'll be seen as legit again at 168 is if he fights Ward. So, at the end of the day, dodging Ward just pushed back the inevitable. Maybe he can make some $ in the meantime.
They probably looked at it and thought a fight with Ward would generate more money further down the line. I don't think it was that he didn't want to fight Ward, I just think he didn't want to fight Ward at that time, for that money. Presuming Ward wins the S6 and Dirrell picks up a few good wins on his comeback trail the fight would surely be better for both fighters financially then it would have been in November. Especially given that the contracts all the fighters signed at the beginning of the tourney gave them a fixed purse for all their bouts.

The problem to me is, how easy will it be to get licensed?The neurological problems were stupid imo although the only way for him to be able to withdraw from the S6 was to have some sort of serious injury. I do think the KO was legit against Abraham but I really doubt he had any lasting problems because of it.