Anthony And Andre Dirrell Are Fighting For Flint, And A Title Shot

Andre and Anthony Dirrell were born 13 months apart, and have been together ever since. The brothers honed their boxing skills by working out together and sparring with each other in their hometown of Flint, Michigan. Leon Lawson, their grandfather and Muhammad Ali's childhood friend, introduced them to the sport and kept them motivated. Flint, a hardscrabble city now in its fourth decade of post-industrial decline, did the rest.

Now veterans in their early 30's and both among the top super middleweights in the world, the Dirrells headlined a Premier Boxing Champions card at the Trump Taj Mahal casino last Friday night in Atlantic City. They each won their bouts, but that was only part of what the fight was about. They were just as proud about helping to raise awareness of the water crisis in their hometown. The ring's canvas was emblazoned with the #Fight4Flint hashtag, while "#SupportFlint was stitched across Andre's trunks. They also teamed up with Spike TV, Viacom and the PBC to develop a website to raise money for Flint's residents.

Flint's water catastrophe began in April 2014, when Flint switched water sources from Detroit's system to the Flint River, which contained highly polluted water that corroded the city's old pipes. Soon, Flint residents had brown, foul-smelling water pouring from their taps; the water was later determined to have dangerously high levels of lead in it, a problem about which the state did criminally little. On April 20, Michigan's attorney general charged two state regulators and a city employee with tampering and other wrongdoing in connection with the water crisis. Still, Anthony Dirrell wasn't satisfied.

"They're getting the small fish, when they should've started at the top and got the big fish," Anthony Dirrell told VICE Sports. "The guy is standing right there. We know what he did, and he's still not in jail."

The guy Dirrell is referring to is Michigan governor Rick Snyder. In January of this year, Snyder told reporters that he had just found out about a spike in Legionnaires' Disease in Flint that may have been linked to the water crisis. However, in February, Progress Michigan obtained emails that showed officials in Snyder's administration knew in March 2015 about the increase in Legionnaires' Disease in Flint.

"Governor Snyder, he definitely did this," said Dirrell, who now lives 10 minutes from Flint. "At the end of the day, he's writing everything off. He has to look over and write it all off. He knows he did wrong and everybody does, but nobody's putting him at fault."

The Dirrells' connection to Flint runs deep. It was there where their mother, Lola, and grandfather used boxing as a way to shield them from trouble. "The streets in Flint, they're pretty rough," Lola Dirrell told VICE Sports. "[Lawson] told the boys, 'Get it out of your head. The streets are dead.'"

Nearly every day after school, Lawson picked up his grandsons at home and brought them to the gym. "They used to hide from him, 'Mama, no. I don't want to go. Tell him we're not here,'" Lola said. "Well, I didn't do that. And thank God I didn't. They love it now. This is what kept them off the streets."

Lola sat in the front row at last Friday's fights, just as she always does. She doesn't actually see much of the action, though. She is usually too nervous to watch. "I'm always praying," she said. "I'm hoping the cameras never get on me talking to myself, but I'm really not talking to myself. I'm talking to God."

In all, around 50 of the Dirrells' family members and friends from the Flint area were on hand to watch them fight on the same card for the first time in more than seven years. Since making their professional debuts, together, on January 27, 2005 at a small gym in Glen Burnie, Maryland, the Dirrells have each had some setbacks.

Anthony Dirrell, 31, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2006 and didn't compete for nearly two years. He also suffered serious injuries in a May 2012 motorcycle accident, which shelved him for a year. Still, he won the WBC super middleweight title in August 2014, although he lost the championship to Badou Jack via majority decision eight months later.

Dirrell regrouped from that defeat with a unanimous decision victory over Marco Antonio Rubio last September. He was even more impressive last Friday. Midway through the first round, Dirrell knocked Caleb Truax down with a right hand/left hook combination. Truax got back up for a few seconds before Dirrell finished him with another left hook. Dirrell won by TKO at 1:49 of the first round.

Dirrell then walked away from Truax and celebrated with a back flip in the ring. Yes, a back flip.

"Let's go!," Dirrell screamed into the television cameras. "I want my rematch, Badou! Your ass is mine!"

"I want everybody," Dirrell told Spike TV's Jimmy Smith during an in-ring interview. "Everybody that got a championship, come see me. I'm ready. I'm more focused than ever. I want some straps. I want all of 'em. Undisputed. Let's go."

After his win, Dirrell sat in the front row and watched Andre compete for the first time since he lost to James DeGale by unanimous decision last May. Andre, 32, was scheduled to fight Blake Caparello last October, but he had two cases of the pink eye, iron deficiency, and a low white blood cell count. Concerned about his condition, Andre flew to the Cleveland Clinic. He's in good health now, but going nearly a year between fights was just the latest challenge in a career that's recently been defined by them.

Andre won a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics and appeared to be on a fast track as a contender, but in October 2010, he withdrew from Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament due to neurological problems. Since then, he's only fought seven times, although he said the neurological problems are no longer a concern.

"It's too far behind for me to think about that," Dirrell told VICE Sports. "Nope. Not at all."

Andre Dirrell wasn't as sharp as usual last Friday. With around 50 seconds left in the second round, Caparello hit Dirrell with a left-handed punch to his head, knocking him down. Dirrell was shaken, but he got up and dominated much of the rest of the fight. All three judges scored it 98-91 in Dirrell's favor.

As the public address announcer revealed the decision, Dirrell held up his iPhone in his right hand. He screamed into the cell phone's camera and recorded a video that he sent to his followers on Instagram and Facebook. "I promise you I won't let you down!," Dirrell barked. "I promise you I'll be world champion! I promise you I'm comin'! I'm comin'! I'm comin'!"

Direll continued to make his case to Smith in the ring after the fight. "I gave it my all," Dirrell said. "I gave the fans everything in me, and I hope they appreciate it. If they don't, then oh well, because I'm gonna keep grindin.' I'm gonna keep comin'. I'm reppin for Flint, Michigan."

Dirrell implored his promoter/adviser, Al Haymon, to set up a championship bout. "Al, give me that title shot!," he screamed. "I don't give a damn who it is. I'm gonna be world champion. Deny me. Deny me. I'm livin' with passion. I will be world champion. I will be world champion. I will not be denied. Tell me I won't do it. Tell me I won't do it. I'll prove you wrong every time!"

As of now, Andre (25-2 with 16 knockouts) is fourth and Anthony (29-1-1 with 23 knockouts) is eighth in The Ring magazine's super middleweight ratings. Their last losses were to the number one (DeGale) and number two (Jack) ranked fighters in their division. The Dirrells are determined to do whatever they can to get rematches and become champions, with one exception: they don't plan on ever fighting each other.

"Of course not," Andre said.

Anthony interrupted his older brother.

"You can't say that," said Anthony, laughing. "If they give us $500 million, we can make it a draw."