By William Mackay: For a number of boxing experts, they’re under the impression that WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch will be able to stop Mikkel Kessler at some point in their Super Six fight on April 24th. Some of them see the punishment that Kessler took in losing to Andre Ward in his last fight in November as evidence that Kessler is starting to slip as a fighter and is vulnerable to being stopped by Froch. That may or may not be true, but the one thing that we do know is that Froch doesn’t have the same boxing skills as Kessler.

You can’t overlook this. It means that unless Froch can score another knockout like the one he labored hard for in his 12th round stoppage win over Jermain Taylor last April 24th, then Froch could find himself losing for the first time against Kessler. It’s not hard to see Froch losing, because in his last fight in October, Froch had major problems against Andre Dirrell in their Super Six tournament fight, a fight in which Froch barely won by a 12 round split decision.

Some boxing fans and experts feel that Dirrell is the weakest of the Super Six fighters in terms of ability. But with Froch basically having to fight tooth and nail to get a win that some people question whether it was a home two decision, it doesn’t give one a comfortable feeling about Froch’s chances to outbox Kessler.

Froch might surprise some people by suddenly showing boxing skills that he’s never shown before in his career, but more likely he’s going to be what he’s always been in the past, a crude slugger. Kessler, most people would agree, has superb boxing skills, and could the most talented of the Super Six tournament fighters along with Ward. For Froch to outbox a skilled fighter like Kessler, it’s going to take quite a lot for that to happen.

I mean Kessler will have had to really gone downhill as a fighter for someone like Froch to outbox him. That’s not a knock on Froch, because he’s good basic boxing skills, but rather a compliment of how good the skills are of Kessler. Mikkel isn’t the same league as Joe Calzaghe and probably not as skilled as Ward either, but he’s still probably more than good enough to beat the likes of Froch.

I think Froch has a chance to win, but I’m only giving him a puncher’s chance at beating Kessler. Froch doesn’t have the boxing skills to beat Kessler by decision unless the judges really scoring the fight in weird way. Froch will have his moments in the fight and will land some big shots, but I think it won’t be enough to get Kessler out of there.

Froch would have to have more power, better hand speed and more pressure to take Kessler out. Froch is too slow, and telegraphs his punches much. Kessler will be able to see Froch’s shots coming and will either block them, move out of the way of them or brace for them and not be bothered. Froch’s power is good, but he’s not a huge puncher like some people are thinking he is based on his win over Taylor. Unless Froch gets a knockout, he’ll probably wind up losing the fight by being out-boxed by Kessler.