By Scott Gilfoid: Former World Boxing Association/WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) has his back against the wall in his fight against WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) when the two fighters meet on April 24th, in h their Super Six stage 2 fight in Herning, Denmark. Kessler, 31, acknowledges his predicament in front of him in his fight against Froch. Kessler has already been beaten once in the Super Six tourney, losing to Andre Ward in an 11 round technical decision last November.

If Kessler tastes defeat again, it’s all over for him in the Super Six tournament. He might as well back his bags and hang up the gloves because there really isn’t anywhere Kessler can go in the division unless he plans on moving up or moving down in weight. The super middleweight division is probably the best in all boxing, stacked with talented fighters like Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Ward, and Lucian Bute.

A loss to Froch would be a signal that Kessler has slipped too much as a fighter and would have to think about other options. If Kessler can get back to his fighting form of two years ago, then I think he wipes the deck with Froch and beats him easily by a lopsided decision. That Kessler would beat Froch and win every round without any problem. However, it’s unknown at this point whether Kessler is still the same fighter he was back then.

Kessler looks like he’s aged physically in the past two years, and his performances against Gusmyr Perdomo and Ward in his last two bouts seem to indicate that something isn’t right with him. Kessler has a new trainer, but that could mean nothing at all unless Kessler can fight to the level of two or more years ago. I don’t think his trainer was the problem in his last two fights. I think Kessler needs to find more energy for him to get back to where he was before.

In an article at Sporten.dk, Kessler says “I have put the loss behind me to Ward, and now I’m 100% focused on winning my next fight. It really is an all or nothing struggle for me. I lose, then there is a long ways to go for me. I’ll pull a victory.”

Kessler will have the support of the Herning crowd on his side when he steps in the ring against Froch on April 24th. With the support of 10,000 Danes, Kessler is going to have a big advantage over Froch. With that many fans backing Kessler up, it’s going to make it very tough for Froch to win. Kessler is unbeaten while fighting in Denmark, and that’s something that Froch might not be aware of.

Kessler fights at a different level when he has fans cheering him on. That’s not good news for Froch, who will be walking into a hostile arena where few of his fans will be heard above the roar of the Kessler fans on that night. Froch believes that he’ll be able to shut out the crowd noise when he’s in the ring, and just focus on Kessler entirely.

That remains to be seen. Kessler is an incredibly talented fighter, and probably a level above Froch in talent. With the crowd backing him all night long, it’s going to make Kessler even tougher to beat. At the end of the day, Froch may find himself in a situation where he has to score a knockout to get the win. I don’t see him beating Kessler by a decision.