By Dan Ambrose: At one time in his career, Mikkel Kessler was able to dominate his opponents without suffering so much as a scratch. Now, however, Kessler is taking punishment even when not fighting the absolute best in the super middleweight division. But the 31-year-old Kessler has really began to take a lot of vicious punishment since he started fighting in the Super Six tournament, where in two of his fights against Andre Ward and Carl Froch, Kessler has taken a lot of hard shots and ended up black and blue afterwards.

Kessler lost his first fight of the Super Six tournament to Ward by an 11 round technical decision last year in November, but in April of this year, Kessler was able to defeat Froch by a hard-earned 12 round unanimous decision. Despite winning that fight, Kessler was hit a lot and looked more like the loser than the winner.

However, Kessler’s next fight of the tournament is against Allan Green, who was easily beaten by Ward in June by a one-sided 12 round decision. Green showed very in that fight and looked for the most part like he didn’t really belong in the Super Six tournament. With good power but a very low work rate, Green was forced to absorb one-way punishment from Ward all night long.

If Green fights much the same way against Kessler in September, then it should be a really easy fight Kessler in terms of taking hard head shots. Green is still likely to be dangerous due to his power and fast hands, but if he’s not throwing a lot of punches, then he will have less chance of hurting Kessler. Right now, Kessler really needs an easy fight going into the semifinals.

First of all, he needs to beat Green to get to the semifinals but he also needs an easier fight where he’s taking less shots. The worst thing that Kessler could have, besides a loss, is another grueling fight just before going into the semifinals. The four fighters that make it to the semifinals of the Super Six tournament will be all quality guys, and there won’t be any more easy fights for Kessler after the Green fight. This is why it’s important for Kessler to get through this fight as easily as he can without getting hit too much.