Froch vs. Kessler II: The Viking War of England

By Boxing News - 05/22/2013 - Comments

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By Andreas Strøjer Tynan Schmidt: In 1013, the Danish Vikings and the Englishmen settled a battle that had been going on for years and eventually ended in the capital of England, London. The Danish Vikings were led by a strong and brutal Viking warrior, King Sweyn Forkbeard, who ironically had English blood running through his veins.

Now, exactly one thousand years later, another great battle will take place this Saturday in the same city, as IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch (30-2, 22 KO’s) takes on WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (46-2, 35 KO’s) in a highly anticipated boxing rematch. An Englishmen receiving a Dane that calls himself the Viking Warrior, who, as Sweyn Forkbeard, is part English himself. The similarities are many. Both men have similar stories coming up to this fight, having fought weaker opposition the last couple of years since losses and injuries broke their earlier rhythms. Both men are also walking in the shadow of the super middleweight king, Andre Ward, and have each lost twice to the best opposition they could find in the division. There can be no doubt whether these two men are the very best of the weight class just after Ward. So where do they differentiate?

Their previous bout was a decision victory to Kessler, which Froch has had a hard time accepting ever since, as he felt the judges scored a home decision victory to the Viking Warrior. What has happened since then? Froch made a comeback and went on to the Super Six finals, where he faced his second defeat against Andre Ward. Then, made yet another comeback and became the world champion once again. Meanwhile, Kessler has taken his time by stepping up his game slowly while showing that there’s still class left in the injury persecuted boxer’s fists.

Froch lost last time and is hungry to come out of his cage – while Kessler is like a passive, calm predator waiting for his opponent to make the first move. This has been very clear on the conferences leading up to the fight. We can expect to see the same in the ring; Froch coming out aggressive and Kessler coming out ready to counter the Cobra’s attacks. This will most likely become a key factor for Kessler; if he can keep his composure and doesn’t get reckless as he did several times in his loss against Ward, he will be able to take advantage when Froch leaves himself wide open in an wild attempt to finish the fight somehow as he did against Lucian Bute a year ago. Kessler is classes above Bute and will not take a beating in a similar way.

Froch’s biggest chances are by going the distance, being the busier guy and having the home advantage of thousands of fanatic Englishmen screaming every time his gloves come even near Kessler – which, whether they land or not, can affect the judges’ scoring.

Back in 1013, the weak and ineffectual King Ethelred II of England fled to the Isle of Wight when he realized King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark was too strong to handle as the Londoners at last submitted in fear of an awful revenge when the inevitable Danish invasion would happen. Later the same year, Sweyn was declared to be the first Danish king of England.

Will the same happen when the Viking Warrior Mikkel Kessler invades the O2 Arena in London? We are about to find out this Saturday, the 25th of May 2013.



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