Middleweight Andre Dirrell of Flint, Michigan pulled off a big upset on Wednesday, knocking off Cuban Yordani Despaigne Herrera on points. In what looked to be a chess match in the first two rounds, Herrera took an early 5-3 lead after two rounds. In round three, Dirrell was the aggressor, getting inside on the Cuban and opening a cut over Herrera's left eye.

Dirrell went into the final round with a one point lead. Dirrell then gave the Cubans a taste of their own medicine, by dancing around the ring the final round, and holding off Herrera for the victory.

The Cubans are notorious for staying away from fighters when they have leads, and Dirrell gave the Cubans a taste of what it feels like to chase the leader around the ring in desperation. Dirrell held on for a narrow 12-11 points victory over Herrera to advance to the Middleweight semifinals.

Dirrell joins Andre Ward as the only other American to make it to the semifinals. With their quarterfinal victories Ward and Dirrell guarantee themselves at least a bronze medal at this year's Athens games. Both are one win away from battling for the gold medal, and should be happy that they are at least guaranteed to medal.

Dirrell will face World Champion Gennadiy Golovkin of Kazakstan in the Middleweight semifinals. In the other Middleweight semifinal, Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov of Russia will face Thailand's Suriya Prasathinphimai.

Both Ward and Dirrell will fight in their semifinal matches on Friday, hoping to advance to the Gold medal match. Ward will face Utkirbek Haydarov of Uzbekistan. Ward and Dirrell basically saved the U.S. Boxing team as they are guaranteed to medal. Had they lost their quarterfinal matches, it would have marked the first time ever that the U.S. hadn't medal at the Olympics.

8-25-2004