By Scott Gilfoid: Although Mikkel Kessler (41-1, 31 KO’s) has been picked by a number of boxing experts to win the Super Six tournament which starts in October, I don’t see it that way. I don’t think Kessler will be good enough to beat his first opponent, 2004 Olympic Gold medalist Andre Ward (19-0, 12 KO’s).
This is a fight where Kessler’s age, and lack of hand speed will be badly exposed by Ward, who will end up beating the Danish fighter by a much wider decision than the one that Joe Calzaghe got over Kessler in 2007. Calzaghe showed that Kessler can be beaten by speedy punches and short combinations.
Ward is much like Calzaghe, only more powerful and a lot younger than Calzaghe was when he fought Kessler. I think Ward has been underestimated in the tournament because a lot of boxing fans and experts haven’t seen enough of his fights to get a good gauge of what kind of fighter he is.
All you need to do is watch Ward’s bouts against Henry Buchanan and Edison Miranda in 2009 to see that Ward has extraordinary talent. Kessler is a good fighter, and I see him as the number #2 or #3 best fighter in the super middleweight division, but he doesn’t have the speed, youth or movement needed to beat a quality fighter like Ward.
Kessler’s problem is that he’s spent basically his entire career fighting European fodder and hasn’t faced some of the quality Americans like Ward and Andre Dirrell. Those two fighters are advanced and have a more conventional style which is more of style that allows them the freedom to move and create opportunities. In contrast, Kessler tends to stand straight up and fights in a European stance in which he shoots his jab out over and over again and throws predictable looking combinations.
Just by looking at Kessler fight for one round, I can pretty much tell what he’s going to do in every round, because he fights the same way all the time. Jab-jab-jab-hook. Ward has the style to beat Kessler. It will become pretty clear by the 2nd round that Kessler bit off more than he can chew.
I do think that Kessler will do well in most of his other bouts in the tournament, except for maybe his fight against Dirrell. I see that as a fight where Kessler will have nearly equal problems because of the fast hands of Dirrell. Kessler ha had it easy since his loss to Calzaghe.
Since that time, Kessler has fought two stiffs in Dimitri Sartison and Danilo Haussler, neither of which gave Kessler adequate preparation for a fight against Ward. The same goes for Kessler’s fight against Gusmyl Perdomo, who Kessler will be fighting next month on September 12th, as part of a defense of his WBA title. That fight will likely end with Kessler destroying the over-matched Perdomo in a round or two. That will be, in essence, yet another Euro stiff that Kessler has fought during his 11-year pro career.
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