By Scott Gilfoid: Losing can be a bitter pill to swallow and yet be a good thing at the same time. Former World Boxing Association super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) says he’s learned from his defeat to Andre Ward in their Super Six tournament fight, and vows not to make the same mistakes in his upcoming April 24th bout against WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s), in Herning, Denmark.

Kessler, 31, says “I learned I made mistakes out of the ring.” Kessler is talking about his preparation in terms of sparring, planning, and conditioning. He has worked on all of these aspects for his bout against Froch, and says “I’m in the best shape ever and I’m ready to fight. I have changed a lot of tactics.”

One thing that Kessler hopefully has changed is his lack of movement. In his 11 round technical decision loss to Ward last November, Kessler was mostly stationary, a sitting duck for the slashing attacks from the faster and younger American fighter. Ward had noticed going into the Kessler fight that Kessler fights mostly in a small square box where he rarely moves out of. Ward even openly pointed out Kessler’s flaws weeks before their fight.

However, Kessler either wasn’t paying attention or felt that he could beat Ward anyway, even if his defects had already been noted by Ward. And as we saw, Ward was exactly spot on in his observation about Kessler’s lack of range. The Danish fighter fought like a mummy in a small coffin for 11 rounds of the fight, taking a lot of punishment from Ward before the referee stepped in and stopped the bout because of two cuts over the eyes of Kessler.

The fight would have likely ended in a knockout had the referee let it continue for much longer, as Kessler was a punching bag for Ward by that time in the fight because of Kessler’s inability to see or block the incoming fire from Ward. The good news for Kessler in his April 34th stage 2 Super Six bout is that Froch has none of the speed and movement ability that Ward possesses. Indeed, Froch is arguably the slowest of the Super Six contestants.

Speed is not what Froch has going for him. As such, Kessler won’t have to worry about fast in and out attacks from Froch. Instead, Kessler will likely see Froch continually coming forward and trying to get Kessler to brawl with him in sustained attacks. Kessler must use better movement than he did in the Ward fight if he’s to avoid the slow turtle-like Froch. This will be the real test for Kessler to see if he’s really learned anything from the Ward fight or is just making lip service.

Kessler will have the perfect opponent to prove that he can fight differently, because if he stands and trades with the slow-moving Froch all night long things might not go good for him. There is a chance that Kessler can beat Froch anyway by standing and trading, but it’s a risky thing because of the scar tissue that Kessler has over both eyes from his fight with Ward. Froch could open up the scar tissue if he hits Kessler enough, and then Mikkel will be fighting blind like he did against Ward. Some fighters are able to fight well with blood in their eyes. Kessler wasn’t one of them unfortunately, as it really bothered him and he wasn’t staying calm and composed.