Froch vs. Kessler in Denmark on April 17th – News
December 16th, 2009
By Sean McDaniel: World Boxing Council super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) will have to leave the safe confines of Nottingham, England, to travel to Denmark to fight former WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) in his next Super Six tournament fight on April 17th.
In the process of losing the fight, Kessler’s WBA title was lost as well. Froch was hoping for a chance to snatch the title in his fight with Kessler, but that won’t be possible now. Before the Kessler-Ward bout, Kessler was considered to be the best fighter in the super middleweight division and the one that was predicted to win the Super Six competition.
Kessler had taken over the division, in the views of some boxing experts, with the retirement of former WBO super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe, who was considered to be the best fighter in the division at the time of his retirement. Kessler, however, looked slow and old against Ward, and was beaten up by the American and badly cut over both eyes due to head butts.
Froch recently defeated Andre Dirrell by a 12 round split decision on October 17th, in an exciting fight. Froch had problems with the speed and defensive ability from Dirrell, but was able to adapt to his style by roughing him up on the inside.
It was Froch’s second consecutive win over an American fighter, having stopped former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor in the 12th round in April 2009. Froch struggled even worse against Taylor than he did against Dirrell, getting knocked down early in the fight from a hard right hand from Taylor. However, Taylor tired out by the 6th round, allowing Froch to come back and eventually stop him in the 12th round of the fight.
Kessler is a much different fighter than either Taylor or Dirrell. Kessler is more technical than either, with a better jab and right hand. Froch will have to come up with a different strategy if he wants to beat Kessler, because on paper at least. Kessler still has great skills, better than probably most of the fighters in the Super Six tourney, apart from Ward. But Kessler isn’t a good inside fighter as Ward proved. However, Froch isn’t all that good on the inside either, even though he had some success in roughing Dirrell up in close.
It will take more than that to beat Kessler though. Froch isn’t fast enough to get in range without being hit by Kessler on the way in. Kessler is also a lot stronger than Dirrell, and will be able to wrestle free of Froch and maybe even out-muscle Froch on the inside. Froch may not have any advantages at all on the inside against Kessler.
On the outside, Kessler is the much superior fighter due to his better jab and better movement. Froch will have to find a way to overcome this if he wants to win the fight. It’s doubtful he’ll be able to do what Ward did against Kessler, because Froch has none of Ward’s quickness or inside fighting ability.
Tags: 14 Responses to “Froch vs. Kessler in Denmark on April 17th – News”
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I’m from Denmark myself and would dearly like Kessler to win the match against Carl Froch, however the way Kesslers boxed his last couple of fight I don’t reallt think that will happen, he put up a very poor show against Ward, probably his worse ever appearance, it look like he is getting old, – shame though will happily throw another 75 Euros out to watch the bout.
kessler is shot,no way can he handle the power of froch,the fight will be brutaly halted around rounds 7-9
THIS OVERATED BIGMOUTH BUM WILL LOOSE IN DENMARK, HE WOULD´NT HAVE HIS DRUNKING LOUDMOUTH FANSW OR CORRUPTED OFFICIALS TO HELP HIM. AND THEN THE EXCUSES WILL HIT THE CONVEYOR BELT.
Doesn’t matter what you say about Froch, he always seems to come out on top!
UK i think u over estimate kessler. I dont think any version of kessler would destroy froch with every version creating a ding dong battle.
I still don’t know how T.Bradley and Nate Campbell was a no contest because of a headbutt from Bradley causing a cut above Campbell’s eye and 5 headbutts from Ward on Kessler were deemed accidental, when they were not. I do expect Kessler without being headbutted to give a good show which could be enough to beat Froch who seems to just have stamina and a big punch.
i want froch to lose ko style in all of his fights for the rest of his career.
froch may be an unclassy fighter, but he puts one hell of a show on
I’d like to see Kessler beat up Froch, Froch is a unclassy fighter.But I don’t know if that will happen, Kessler looked very shot against Ward.
Good article, you have pointed out Froch’s flaws but in a non-bias way and highlighting how Taylor gave Froch more trouble than Dirrell (hence the not need to go for a Ko in the last round against Dirrell, he knew he was ahead and so did I). Froch does have an under-rated jab though, he was catching Dirrell with it al night long, though not in great fashion but with Dirrells back-foot punches falling short what else could they score on. Kessler is a good boxer but his speed is nothing to Taylors, and that is what Froch struggled with.
hope froch can go over there and bring back his title with a fight of the year contender. Kessler seems like age is catching up with him and just coming back from injury all contributed to the ward performance. Hopefully they both bring their best. May i make a request for Mr Gilfoid to write some articles on this fight as your articles are a better build up than hbo’s 24/7 series.
I hope that was the real Kessler we saw dominated by Ward.
The Kessler i thought i were guna see against Ward would make Froch look stupid and destroy him. The poor Kessler v Froch would make for a wonderful battle.
I never expected Kessler to lose let alone look so bad doing it. Was that the REAL Kessler? Theres now way im saying the whole thing was all about the buts and the cuts. Ward looked different class.
However this is good for Froch cuz the Kessler i thought id see would destroy a Froch. But this Kessler means a closer fight and knowing how both of them like to fight this tells me this is guna be a gruesome, bloody and exciting fight. I cant wait.
Fingers crossed theres no setbacks
Good fight looking forward to it, hopefully Kessler will be back to his best by then