By Scott Gilfoid: In a fight that could have gone either way, IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch (31-2, 22 KO’s) defeated WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (46-3, 35 KO’s) by a close 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the O2 Arena, in London, UK. The final judges’ scores were 118-110, 116-112 and 115-113.
You can ignore the judge that scored the fight 118-110 for Froch because that score is no indication of how the fight was fought. Froch barely won the fight and spent pretty much the entire missing over and over and over again with his shots. I haven’t seen Froch miss this much since he fought Andre Dirrell in 2009. It was downright embarrassing to see Froch whiffing with his punches like a blind man.
Kessler looked like a shadow of his former self from three years ago. He was totally reluctant to try and get past Froch’s jab in the first three rounds and basically just gave those rounds away needlessly. However, he finally got his act in gear in the 4th when he landed some big shots against the slow as molasses Froch. But unlike in their previous fight, Kessler didn’t keep attacking and went back on the outside and fought only in brief spurts.
Kessler staggered Froch in the 11th round and then unloaded on him with a storm of shots that Froch blocked with his head. I don’t think missed one shot of a six-punch combination. But Froch weathered the storm and went on the attacking, missing an half dozen shots before the bell sounded to end the round. Kessler cut Froch over the left eye in the round.
In the 12th, Froch appeared to shake Kessler up with some big shots that had Kessler holding on for a brief spell. Kessler then came back and landed some nice shots of his own through Froch’s wide open defense. Froch had gotten real sloppy at that point, making it easy for Kessler.
The win showed us a couple of things. One, Kessler is totally shot and needs to retire. Two, Froch would stand no chance against Andre Ward in a rematch. I think Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn will realize that it’s not worth it to put Froch back in with Ward and will instead steer him towards a fight with 48-year-old Bernard Hopkins, the IBF light heavyweight champion. Both Hearn and Froch said no to fighting Hopkins at 175, and instead want to fight him at a catch weight to get a small handicap.
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