clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Andre Dirrell training under Floyd Mayweather Sr in Las Vegas

Andre Dirrell is training to make his return to the ring under the guidance of Floyd Mayweather Sr.

Tom Casino/Showtime

Super middleweight Andre Dirrell is back in the gym with a new trainer, as Floyd Mayweather Sr has taken over for the Flint, Michigan, native, who is now promoted by 50 Cent's SMS Promotion, and is working in Las Vegas.

Mayweather Sr says he believes Dirrell has the skills to get to the top, and that they'll soon be working out of a new gym just off the strip:

"I think I can get him to be world champion, I definitely believe that. I think that he got the qualities. There’s different things that he got though that I got to enhance him on. There’s things that I go to do. I’m just going with the overall picture. I think that’s he’s a talented fighter and I definitely think you’re looking at the next world champion."

Floyd Sr. also mentioned that he will soon be training Dirrell out of a new location, claiming that 50 Cent has invested in a new gym right off of the strip.

"It’s right next to the Top Rank Gym. They want to get it up in about two weeks. Right now the gym looks pretty nice the way it is now. But 50’s getting ready to move into that gym and take over that gym."

Dirrell (20-1, 14 KO) has fought just once since a controversial DQ win over Arthur Abraham in March 2010, and that came in December 2011, when he easily blew past club fighter Darryl Cunningham on a ShoBox card. Since then, Dirrell has had talks and rumors for fights with Lucian Bute and Adonis Stevenson, but neither came through, and when the Bute fight came up, he parted ways with adviser Al Haymon, as well as promoter Gary Shaw, which made him a free agent.

Now with 50 Cent's promotional outfit, Dirrell is one of a handful of fighters in the hands of a novice who hopes to quickly work his way into the game. What comes of 50 Cent's company remains to be seen, but it's not like Dirrell was doing anything before, anyway, so it's just as well off this way, I suppose.

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the Bad Left Hook Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of all your global boxing news from Bad Left Hook