By Chris Williams: I think we saw the fighter that can ultimately put Bernard Hopkins out of his misery last Saturday night when super middleweight Mikkel Kessler (41-1, 31 KOs) destroyed Danilo Haussler in a 3rd round TKO in Oldenburg, Germany. This wouldn’t a case of Hopkins picking on a middleweight fighter like Kelly Pavlik, who at the end of the day, was just too small for the light heavyweight Hopkins. Kessler has the size at 168, the boxing skills, the movement and the speed to easily handle Hopkins and retire him from the sport.

As good as Kessler looked, I doubt that Hopkins will want to take the hook and seek out a fight with him. Hopkins wants a fight with Joe Calzaghe or Roy Jones Jr., either of which would bring in much more money without all the risk that Kessler would bring to the table. I realize that Kessler has been beaten by Calzaghe, but the fight was very close and in a rematch, I’m fairly certain he would beat him. That’s why Calzaghe probably doesn’t want to face him again. As far as Kessler-Hopkins, I don’t see any reason why this fight can’t place.

Kessler would probably agree to fight Hopkins at 175 any day of the weak, because it would mean that he would only have to put on a couple of pounds to make the fight. Realistically, Kessler wouldn’t have to gain a pound and he would still be big enough, quick enough and skilled enough to beat him. Ultimately, Hopkins may have no other option but to face Kessler, because Calzaghe has no interest whatsoever in going over old ground and beating Hopkins one more time, and Roy Jones Jr. won’t be in the position to fight Hopkins after he loses badly to Calzaghe on November 8th.

That leaves only Chad Dawson and Kessler as potential opponents for Hopkins. I don’t see Hopkins having any interest in facing Pavlik again, because he would probably do much worse the next time out, and maybe lose to him. Other top fighters in the super middleweight and light heavyweight division, like Carl Froch, Jean Pascal, Denis Inkin, Lucian Bute, Hugo Garay, Zsolt Erdei and Adrian Diaconu, don’t have a big enough name for Hopkins to waste time fighting.

Hopkins is too small to move up to cruiserweight, so that’s out as well. In the end, Hopkins may have no choice but to fight Kessler if he wants to stay busy. I think Hopkins may have ruined his chances with a second fight with Calzaghe by burning his bridges by going to the last degree with his gamesmanship while trying to promote the fight. Calzaghe probably doesn’t have much interest in a repeat of that whole ordeal, even it does mean a huge payday at the end of the day.

Hopkins did look good in his last fight, I give him that, but that’s only because Pavlik did a poor job putting pressure on him and cutting off the ring. Kessler’s jab would be a major factor in the fight, as he would keep it in Hopkins’ face the whole time. Hopkins previously had problems in his fight with Jermain Taylor mainly because of Jermain’s jabs and speedy combinations. Kessler would bring the same thing to the table against Hopkins, but adding much more versatility when it comes to offensive firepower.

I think this would be a fight that the sneaky Hopkins couldn’t think his way through, trying to devise alternative strategies to beat Kessler. Believe me, Kessler would have a plan B, C, D, E and F, and would quickly work through each one until he found one that worked against the older Hopkins.