This weekend boxing fans will have to tune into boxing a little earlier than usual as HBO will be broadcasting from across the pond in UK, as the stacked 168 lb division will be on display for the world to watch. The WBA Super World super Middleweight Champion, “The Viking Warrior”, Mikkel Kessler will square off against IBF super Middleweight Champion, “The Cobra”, Carl Froch in the O2 Arena in London, UK in a rematch from their thrilling bout 3 years ago, in which Kessler won by unanimous decision.
The powerful man from Denmark, Mikkel Kessler, comes into this fight with a 46-2 record with 35 KOs, with his only 2 losses coming to 1 of the all-time super middleweight greats, Joe Calzaghe and a loss 3 years ago to current top 5 pound for pound fighter, Andre Ward, in a fight where Kessler complained about bad refereeing and head butts from Ward. This will be Kessler’s 1st time fighting back in the UK since his fight again Calzaghe and before that, all but 1 of his previous fights before than had been all in Denmark. Kessler will try to use the same aggressive style at age 34 that he used against Froch at age 32. He will be walking into a lion’s den as it is not easy to fight Froch in the UK, just ask Lucian Bute, who was blitzed by Froch and the fans and was completely dominated by Froch’s aggressive style.
Carl Froch will enter the ring with a 30-2 record with 22 KOs. His only 2 blemishes came to Kessler, in their 1st fight, as well as a loss to Andre Ward. He has power, but unlike Kessler, it is more of a cumulative power, rather than 1 punch power. He’ll have a 1 in reach advantage, but I don’t think it will matter to Froch as he will try to get inside, then try to pressure and overwhelm Kessler, as he did to Bute. Froch seems to turn into a Superman in his home country. The 35 year old Froch looks to be a busy man in the next couple years, as he is facing Kessler in a rematch now, he still will probably face Bute in a rematch in Canada, he would like to get another crack at Ward, and even Jean Pascal is possibly in the pipeline. Froch is 1 person that will not have to look far for opponents the next 2 years.
When it comes down to it, this fight should be an entertaining fight with 2 aggressive guys that could end in a KO. If you want to see Froch’s display of power, just watch his last fight against Yusaf Mack, but if you want to see what could’ve been KO of the year, go see the Mikkel Kessler vs. Allan Green fight. Both of these guys would like their chance at a rematch with Andre Ward, no matter how many titles he relinquishes, so for that to happen, they will have to go through each other. I think if the same Froch comes to this fight that came to the Bute fight, he will be very hard to beat. However, I don’t think Kessler will be as affected by the crowd as Bute was.
When these 2 fought the 1st time, Kessler showed more power, was more aggressive, and was the better boxer. Even though that fight was in Kessler’s home country and this one is in Froch’s home country, I see the same result. I think Kessler will catch Froch with a shot early to kind of show him that he’s not Bute. I was originally going to say Kessler by TKO, and then I thought of how tough Froch is. Then I thought that if it went to decision, there is no way that Kessler will win a decision in UK. So because of that, Kessler will know that and try to finish Froch in the 2nd half of the fight. So I’m going to say Kessler wins by 9th round TKO. But no matter who wins, this should be a great fight for fight fans, no matter what part of the world you’ll be watching it from, enjoy the fight.
