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LAS VEGAS – Anthony Dirrell didn’t let the reporter finish his question.
The former WBC super middleweight champion simply isn’t interested in fighting anyone other than Canelo Alvarez next. If the 37-year-old Dirrell can’t get a shot at the Mexican superstar’s four 168-pound championships, Dirrell doesn’t see the point of continuing a career that began nearly 17 years ago.
“I’ll retire,” Dirrell said during a post-fight press conference late Saturday night at MGM Grand. “Yeah, because I’m 37 years old. If I can’t fight for something, I’m fighting for nothing. I have nothing to reach. I think that’s every boxer’s dream, especially to be a undisputed champion. At least let me fight for it and see. But if I can’t [get Canelo], I’m getting too old for this, man. … And I can’t keep doing it.”
Dirrell (34-2-2, 25 KOs) hopes his spectacular one-punch, fourth-round knockout of Marcos Hernandez on the Alvarez-Caleb Plant undercard got Alvarez’s attention and convinced him that the Flint, Michigan, native is a worthy foe for his first fight of 2022.
Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs), who knocked out the previously unbeaten Plant in the 11th round of the main event at MGM Grand Garden Arena, had expressed interest in fighting Dirrell when Alvarez was under contract with DAZN. Dirrell might’ve made more sense as a potential opponent for Alvarez if the four-division champion intended to return for a February fight, as he did last year, when he stopped Turkey’s Avni Yildirim after three rounds of match mandated by the WBC.
The 31-year-old Alvarez stated, however, that he won’t fight again until May, which likely would remove Dirrell from his list of potential opponents for a higher-profile assignment on Cinco de Mayo weekend. The paying public would be much more interested in Alvarez fighting David Benavidez, who knocked out Dirrell in September 2019, or Jermall Charlo if Alvarez signs on for another fight with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.
Benavidez (24-0, 21 KOs), a former WBC 168-pound champion, must beat Kyrone Davis (16-2-1, 6 KOs) on Saturday night in Phoenix to remain in contention to land a lucrative fight versus Alvarez. Showtime will televise Benavidez-Davis as the 12-round main event of a three-bout broadcast from Footprint Center, the home arena of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.
Dirrell, meanwhile, responded well to his previous appearance, a controversial 12-round split draw with Davis on February 27 in Los Angeles, by blasting Hernandez with a right uppercut that abruptly ended their scheduled 10-rounder. The 28-year-old Hernandez (15-5-2, 3 KOs), of Fresno, California, got up from flat on his back before referee Celestino Ruiz counted to 10, but Hernandez stumbled when Ruiz instructed him to show he could continue.
“Like I say, hopefully I can get Canelo, the big head honcho,” Dirrell said. “I think everybody wants him, everybody wants to dethrone him. Hopefully, I made a big enough statement to get him. That’s the plan and hopefully, you know, he seen, you know, what I did and gonna give me a shot.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.