By Scott Gilfoid: IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch thinks he wasn’t at 100% the last time he fought WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler in their fight back in April 2010. Kessler ended up getting the better of Froch in that fight, beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision in Herning, Denmark.
Froch said “I’m gunning for revenge at all costs…If Mikkel thinks he saw the best of me in Denmark then he is in for a rude awakening.”
I don’t see why Froch wasn’t at his best for Kessler last time. If Froch wasn’t at his best then why wasn’t he? Was it because of the volcano eruption that delayed his flight to Denmark? I just wish Froch would admit the fact that he was beaten by the better fighter on that night.
Kessler simply had his number and got the better of him during most of the exchanges in the fight. Froch tried to come on in the last third of the fight, but Kessler held his ground and fought Froch to a standstill.
In the 12th round, Froch tried to go for a knockout and Kessler got the better of him with his hard combinations. I have no doubt about it that if Froch had continued to fight in this same manner he’d have been knocked out had the fight gone a little longer because Kessler was teeing off on him with some really heavy shots.
Froch thinks that things will be different time because the fight will be staged in the UK instead of Denmark, but I don’t see how that makes any difference in the fight. Froch is still slow and he’s not going to be able to get the better of Kessler in a war.
The only fighter that got the better of Kessler in a big way was Andre Ward in their fight in Oakland, California. It wasn’t because of the venue that Ward dominated Kessler. It was because of his talent. They could have staged the fight in Denmark and Ward still would have dominated Kessler just as badly as before.
The Froch-Kessler rematch will reportedly be taking place at the O2 Arena in London. That means that a lot of Froch fans will be showing up to see him fight, and he seems to think he’ll draw strength from this. Boxing isn’t like football or other sports where you can win on pure adrenalin against the better fighters.
What happens more often than not is when a fighter gets boosted by the cheering from the crowd, they end up getting cocky and they walk into shots they normally wouldn’t have had the fight taken place in a hostile or neutral venue. They don’t fight smart by trying to get out of the way of punches. I think this is going to be Froch’s fate on May 25th. He’ll come at Kessler thinking he’s with Lucian Bute or Yusaf Mack again, and get planted by a big left hook or right hand from Kessler.
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