By Scott Gilfoid: A lot of boxing fans are under the impression that #1 ranked WBC super middleweight contender Mikkel Kessler (44-2, 33 KO’s) will have too much for WBO super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz (41-2, 23 KO’s) in their fight on April 14th in the Parken, Copenhagen.

But I don’t agree with that belief. I’ve seen too much of Kessler in his fights against Carl Froch and Mehdi Boudla, and Kessler is no longer the same fighter he once was back in 2007 and before that. He’s really gone downhill and a best, I think Kessler is around 60% of what he was in 2007, which is when I think Kessler was in his prime.

He’s slower, weaker and easier to hit than he was back then. In contrast, 30, is fighting a lot better than he was back in 2008, the last time he was beaten by Librado Andrade. Stieglitz has worked really hard and improved to the point where he’s throwing multiple combinations, boxing well and punching with a lot of authority.

I also really like Stieglitz’s high work rate. He’s really throwing a lot of punches nowadays as we saw in his wins over Henry Weber, Khoren Gevor and Enrique Ornelas. These are all guys that Kessler would obviously beat but he’d know he was in a fight.

It wouldn’t be the cakewalk that it was for Stieglitz because Kessler doesn’t have Stieglitz’s hand speed or his ability to snow his opponents under with combinations. Kessler is more of a stiff jab kind of guy followed by a predictable left and right hand. There’s little mystery to Kessler’s game, as he seems to fight by the numbers. Kessler likes to fight in a small box like a dancer and uses the same punch assortment over and over again without anything new being added.