Photo Credit: Tony Brochner – By Jim Dower: Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) thinks he’ll be able to stop the unbeaten World Boxing Council (WBC) super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) when the two fighters meet in the Super Six tournament stage 2 bout at the MCH Messecenter Herning, in Herning, Denmark. Kessler, 31, says “I need a win and I get a win. I will get the first three points in the Super Six tournament.” In other words, Kessler is predicting that he will stop the 32-year-old Froch on Saturday in Denmark. This is interesting news, because Froch is also predicting a knockout win for himself against Kessler.

Neither of these guys want to settle for just getting a decision win, because they need to pick up the extra point which a knockout win would give them. A normal victory counts as 2 points in the Super Six tournament, whereas a knockout is scored as 3 points. As of now, Froch has 2 points from his narrow 12 round split decision win over Andre Dirrell in their stage 1 Super Six tourney bout last October, while Kessler has 0 points after being beaten by American Andre Ward last October in their stage 1 Super Six bout in Oakland, California.

There was some concern about how Froch would make it from Britain to Denmark because of the volcanic ash in the sky around Europe, which has been interrupting airplane traffic on a daily basis. However, Kessler’s promotional company Sauerland flew Froch over on Wednesday on a private jet and he’s now safely in Denmark, preparing for Saturday night’s fight against Kessler.

Froch wants a knockout win because it would assure him at least a tie for first place in the Super Six tourney, depending on how well unbeaten Andre Ward does in his next stage 2 bout against Allan Green on June 19th. Like Froch, Ward has two points. Kessler is at the stage where he cannot afford to lose again if he wants to make it to the semi finals of the tournament.

If Kessler beats Froch on Saturday, it gives Mikkel a good chance of getting to the semi finals. Kessler’s stage 3 opponent is Allan Green, a good but very beatable opponent. Depending on where this fight takes place, Kessler could have a big advantage over Green, who doesn’t have much experience against top level opposition in his career.