By Dan Nilsen
Winning 192 of 212 amateur fights, then 34 of 39 as a professional — including 25 knockouts — and twice capturing the World Boxing Council super middleweight championship of the world was not the hardest part of Anthony Dirrell’s 29-year boxing career.
The Flint native’s toughest battles came outside the ring.
Dirrell endured setbacks few fighters ever face, beginning in late 2006 when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The illness sidelined him for nearly two years as he underwent chemotherapy treatments to beat cancer.
Five years later, another setback struck. While test-driving a motorcycle in 2012, Dirrell was hit by a minivan, suffering a fractured arm and broken leg. It took another year of recovery before he could resume his pursuit of a world championship.
“Definitely I’ve been through a lot of trials and tribulations,” Dirrell said prior to his induction into the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame on Dec. 6. “It was a lot, going through that chemo radiation, then motorcycle accident surgeries. I just tried to stay focused and keep going. I’m here for a reason — stay focused, keep going and stick to my path.”
That path began when Dirrell was 9 years old. His grandfather, Leon “Bumper” Lawson, and uncle, Leon Lawson Jr., introduced Anthony and his older brother Andre to boxing. Lawson had been an amateur boxer in Louisville, Kentucky, where he met and sparred with Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali.
Lawson later introduced the Dirrell brothers to Ali, who was living in Berrien Springs, Michigan, using Ali’s success as motivation.
“It was good meeting him,” Anthony said. “He was a down-to-earth guy. He couldn’t really talk as much, but you could kind of understand him. He could still play jokes and do magic tricks. I was glad to meet him while he was still on earth.”
Dirrell’s first fight took place on Ojibway Island in Saginaw.
“From then on, it was nothing but up,” he said.
At 17, Dirrell began competing in the Golden Gloves, winning an Eastern Michigan championship and a state title in 2003 at 152 pounds. It was during that time he debuted his trademark backflip celebration after victories.
Entering the National Golden Gloves as the No. 4-ranked welterweight in the U.S., Dirrell narrowly lost a 3-2 split decision — and didn’t get to flip.
In 2004, both Dirrell brothers competed in the U.S. Olympic Boxing Trials. Rather than face Andre at 168 pounds, Anthony moved up to 178, even boxing with a broken hand. He finished third, missing a spot on the U.S. team for the Athens Olympics. Andre went on to win a bronze medal.
Along the amateur path, Dirrell also captured a Police Athletic League national championship and earned his nickname, Anthony “The Dog” Dirrell.
“It just came up in amateurs,” he said. “I was relentless. I’d get hit and want to keep going. People would say, ‘Dang, you a dog,’ and it stuck.”
Dirrell turned professional at age 20, scoring a first-round technical knockout of Henry Dukes on Jan. 27, 2005. He won his next 11 bouts, including a first-round TKO of James Hopkins on Dec. 22, 2006, at Perani Arena in Flint.
Days later, chest pain he had been experiencing was diagnosed as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Despite undergoing nearly two years of chemotherapy, Dirrell continued training between treatments. He returned to the ring on Oct. 11, 2008, winning a four-round unanimous decision in Las Vegas. Over the next three years, he won 11 straight fights, earning a contender eliminator bout on Dec. 2, 2011, which he won by fourth-round TKO over Renan St-Juste.
Then came the 2012 motorcycle accident.
Dirrell returned again on May 3, 2013, winning an eight-round unanimous decision in Las Vegas, followed by a third-round stoppage of Anthony Hanshaw two months later. That set up his first world title shot against WBC super middleweight champion Sakio Bika on Dec. 7, 2013, in Brooklyn.
The fight ended in a split draw. Dirrell dropped Bika in the fifth round but suffered a severe cut over his left eye from a head-butt in the 11th, requiring seven stitches.
The rematch came Aug. 16, 2014, in Carson, California. Dirrell won a unanimous decision to capture the WBC super middleweight championship of the world.
He lost the title in his first defense to Badou Jack by majority decision on April 24, 2015, in Chicago.
“I was sluggish,” Dirrell said afterward. “I take nothing away from Badou. A true champion is one who can come back after a loss.”
Nearly four years later, Dirrell regained the title on Feb. 23, 2019, defeating Avni Yildrim by technical split decision in Minneapolis after another accidental head-butt forced the fight to be stopped.
The title reign ended Sept. 28, 2019, with a ninth-round technical knockout loss to David Benavidez, who later called it the hardest fight of his career.
Dirrell continued fighting, including a split draw with Kyrone Davis in 2021. His final push came on Nov. 6, 2021, when he knocked out Marcos Hernandez with a spectacular fourth-round right uppercut in Las Vegas — a highlight-reel finish that drew national praise.
“If I can’t fight for something, I’m fighting for nothing,” Dirrell said that night.
He never got another title shot. His final bout came Oct. 15, 2022, against Caleb Plant in Brooklyn, where Dirrell was stopped in the ninth round, finishing his career at 34-3-2.
“That was just a fight,” said Dirrell, who had turned 38 the day before.
Following his first world title, Dirrell was honored by the City of Flint and at the State Capitol, where Rep. Woodrow Stanley, D-Flint, praised not only his championship, but his resilience.
“Our community is proud of his outstanding achievement,” Stanley said. “More importantly, we are proud of his ‘never give up’ attitude.”
Now retired, Dirrell is turning his focus toward giving back.
“I’m about to build a gym on my property in Grand Blanc and start training people,” he said. “Getting communities involved, doing self-defense classes — just something for the people.”
