Froch: “I am planning to knock him out”
February 19th, 2010
By William Mackay: WBC super middleweight Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) sounds like victory over former WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) is a foregone conclusion.
Froch says in an article at the UK.eurosport “They say styles make fights and our fight will be an exciting one. I am curious to see whether it will be the old or the new Kessler in the ring. It does not matter to me. I am planning to knock him out anyway.”
Ward just looked like an altogether better equipped fighter in terms of raw physical skills. Kessler, a decent puncher, didn’t have the massive power needed to make up for his lack of speed and movement against Ward. Without the speed and movement to contend with Ward, Kessler found himself in an impossible situation and went down to a one-sided defeat.
Kessler says “Well, Carl, you don’t know the new Mikkel Kessler yet. You will be in for a very explosive surprise when we meet. You [Froch] are a nice guy, but business is business, and I want to win my old WBC belt back. I had a very bad night in the office against Ward but champions bounce back even stronger. I did that once after the Calzaghe fight and I will do it against when get in the in the ring.”
After losing a 12 round decision to Calzaghe in November 2007, Kessler responded with three consecutive wins, beating Dimitri Sartison, Danilo Haussler and Gusmyr Perdomo. Kessler looked especially good in the Sartison and Haussler fights.
Sartison had his moments in the first half of his fight against Kessler in June 2008, landing a handful of nice right hands that got Kessler’s attention and had him looking a little timid for awhile. However, Kessler continue to pump in a hard jab and land right hands and left hooks to punish Sartison. As the rounds went by, Sartison took more and more of a beating and by the 12th, he had taken enough and the fight finally stopped.
Froch will have to land more than an occasional right hand if he wants to beat Kessler. And more importantly, Froch is going to have to find some hand speed if he wants to beat Kessler. As slow as Froch looked in his fight against Andre Dirrell and Jermain Taylor last year, Kessler would likely dominate Froch and win the fight.
Froch has the power to win, but his delivery system is lacking entirely. Froch doesn’t have good hand speed at all, and he had huge problems landing any of his power shots in his last fight against Dirrell because of Carl’s slow hand speed.
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Kessler will smoke him.
final will be Kessler vs. Abraham
@ Mr Flint
I would have liked Dirrell to have a go at Froch the first time but he just danced about, hugged him and moaned. There is no denying Dirrell has skills but if you watch the fight again, watch round 4 and round 11… Dirrell wipes the floor with him. It was like watching 3 different boxers in there, I don’t know what it was like for Froch.
Froch must of been thinking I’m going to get battered here… next minute he is thinking, I can bully this kid, this is easy… then he’s getting battered again then he is in control… must of been mad.
If Dirrell has another go he needs to stay consistent, focused and stop being scared of being KO’d… he could beat Froch to the punch and he has to put his neck on the line if he wants to fulfill his potential.
It seems reasonable to think Froch will win.This is just testament to the state of SMD at the moment.
Would like to see Dirrell have another go at him
froch vs ward final
Kessler will be good for 6 rounds and then Froch will still be there and he will panic. Froch takes over and wins close decision or late KO
Dirrell was defencly brillant and reflexes were brillant anyone would struggle against him
I think this will pan out like many of Froch’s more recent fights the opening 3 – 5 rounds will go the way of Kessler. Froch will then start to come on strong and take it. I have said this for many years now, he’s not the most technically gifted of fighters out there. But his iron will to win, granite chin and superb conditioning will get him through this yet again, these traits coupled with his power will always make Froch a dangerous opponent for any fighter. I question if any fighter in the SMW division can live with the intensity that Froch brings to a fight, he will catch Kessler eventually and I see a late KO/TKO. At the end of this Super 6 I see Froch v Abraham final.
Froch will wear Kessler out and batter him in the later rounds for a stoppage. Great chin Froch and great heart and stamina.
Kessler has never fought a Froch before. Calzaghe was a volume puncher with great skills, Ward had good skills and made good use of his movement. Froch hits a lot harder then both these guys and if he catches Kessler (which I am sure he will) then we will see if Kessler was over-rated after all.
The same could be said the other way but I’d say Pascal is a big hitter and Froch walked through some massive shots in that fight.
Froch by late stoppage – sheer force of will should see him through. Great fight in prospect here though.
Froch does have the power, heart and chin to defeat kessler.
But its by no means gaurenteed to happen.
I would not like to put money on this fight, but im going to predict victory for froch, possibly by late KO. It all depends on whether froch can break kessler mentally like calzaghe and ward both did.