By William Mackay: Former World Boxing Association super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) has a difficult opponent in WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) for his first fight coming off an 11 round technical decision defeat last time out last November against Andre Ward. Kessler and Froch will meet on April 24th, in their stage 2 Super Six fight in Herning, Denmark. This gives Kessler, a Dane, an advantage of being able to fight in front of what will be a good sized crowd of 10,000 fans.

Going into the fight, this bout figures to be a closely contested affair with both fighters pretty much even in terms of talent. Froch, 32, has the advantage in power and perhaps conditioning, whereas Kessler has the better hand speed, jab and overall boxing ability. Froch doesn’t have the skills to match Kessler if Mikkel can keep the fight on the outside for the full 12 round.

This is why Froch is going to have to try and turn this bout into a dog fight like he was partially able to do at times in his last Super Six fight against American Andre Dirrell last October. Kessler, 31, doesn’t have the same hand speed or defensive ability as Dirrell, but he may not need to if he can keep Froch at the ends of his punches and avoid letting him get close enough to maul him like he did with Dirrell.

Froch will be looking to back Kessler up all fight long and try to corner him so that he can land his big shots. Kessler will need to be able to move laterally if he’s to hope to keep from getting into the grueling type of fight that Froch specializes in. Movement is the key for Kessler. He can’t just stand and trade with Froch for 12 rounds, because Froch’s superior stamina will play into the fight as a big factor in the later rounds of the bout.

Froch seems to be able to kick in to another gear late in his fights and reach for an extra something that most of his opponents are lacking by that point in the fight. Kessler has to stay away from him and keep from getting beaten up. As long as Kessler builds up a good lead in the first eight to ten rounds using his jab, and a lot of movement, he has a good chance of staying away from a desperate Froch in the 11th and 12th rounds to earn a decision.

Froch mostly counts on winning his fights by knockout, so Kessler has to be on the watch for Froch trying to land something big in the later rounds of the fight. The good thing that Kessler has going for him in this fight is his hand speed. He’s a lot faster than Froch, and will be able to land his shots quicker when in exchanges.

In addition, Froch’s punches, given that they’re slower, will be easier for Kessler to spot and thus get out of the way of before they land. This fight could end up being a big mismatch if Kessler can fight at the level he was two years ago when he dominated Dimitri Sartison in a 12th round stoppage. In many ways, Froch isn’t as good as Sartison, especially with his jab and boxing ability.