Calzaghe picks Froch to beat Kessler

By Boxing News - 05/23/2013 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: You can add former super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe to the long list of people who think that IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch (30-2, 22 KO’s) will defeat WBA champion Mikkel Kessler (46-2, 35 KO’s) this Saturday night in their rematch.

Calzaghe thinks Kessler isn’t the same fighter he was back in 2007 when Calzaghe fought him and won a close 12 round unanimous decision.

Calzaghe points out that Kessler has been slowed with injuries and inactivity over the past three years, and he feels that Froch will win because he’s been the more active guy.

Calzaghe said to the Press Association Sport “I think Froch is going to win the fight. He’s been active, Kessler’s been very inactive, he’s only had three fights in three years…Mikkel has been very inactive…He’s got a lot of problems with injuries…the biggest thing is he’s boxing in London, so he’s [Froch] fighting at home with the crowd behind him.”

Normally I would agree with what Calzaghe is saying but I have to disagree with him here. Kessler has been inactive during the past three years, but that’s saved him from taking a lot of punishment.

Sometimes being inactive is a good thing for a fighter, and in Kessler’s case I believe it really helped him a lot by saving him a lot of the punishment that Froch had to take by being the busier fighter in the last three years. Kessler did have some hand injuries, but that could happen to anyone. It’s not an age type of injury; it’s an injury that just happens from time to time for a fighter.

Fighting Froch in London may actually turn out in Kessler’s favor because Froch will likely be fighting with too much energy and not using his head to fight smart. This in turn will make it much easier for Kessler to punish the Brit by catching him coming in with jabs, hooks and right hands.

If you compare how Kessler looked in his last fight to how Froch looked, there’s no question that Kessler looks like the better fighter, the faster fighter and the more talented fighter.

I think he’s going to give Froch a beating and send him home to Nottingham a loser again, just like he was when he got beaten by Kessler three years ago in the Super Six tournament in 2010 in Herning, Denmark. Nothing has changed since then other than the fight taking place in London instead of Denmark.



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