Mikkel Kessler Faces The Must-Win Situation With Froch
By Cliff Rold
From pre-tournament favorite to a career in peril?
It seems too dramatic a shift, but it could be the case Sunday morning if Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO) finds himself 0-2 in the “Super Six” Super Middleweight tournament. At only 31 years old, the once unified WBA and WBC titlist is in a must-win situation for the first time.
Kessler’s career won’t be over with a loss this Saturday.
His chances of advancing to the semi-finals of the Super Six might be.
WBC titlist Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO) is already a leg up on Kessler entering the weekend. Where Kessler was readily handled by 2004 U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KO) to end the Dane’s second run as a WBA beltholder, Froch found a way through muddy waters to win an ugly decision over Ward’s amateur teammate Andre Dirrell. For Froch, that meant two points awarded under the tournament scoring method while Kessler is waiting to get on the board.
Should Froch extend the wait this weekend, he’d have two wins worth at least four (five if he scored a stoppage) points and a guaranteed ticket to the semi-finals. Kessler would not be mathematically eliminated with a loss, but it would put him in a position where he almost certainly would need a knockout in the third round to advance.
This is a proverbial ‘back against the wall’ moment. Kessler’s response to the Ward loss indicates he may know it. Trainer Richard Olsen had been with Kessler since his professional debut but in January was fired in favor of assistant trainer Jimmy Montoya. Montoya, who has worked in the past with fistic luminaries like Alexis Arguello, Salvador Sanchez, and Hector Camacho Sr. brings a wealth of experience to the corner.
He also brings what some might have argued was an overdue change. Questions of the Kessler corner were not unique to the Ward loss’s aftermath. In 2007, a then-undefeated Kessler took two major titles into Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales for a showdown with hometown idol Joe Calzaghe.
Through five rounds, Kessler performed well but then Calzaghe changed tactics, moving, boxing, going to the body, and Kessler never adjusted in kind. It didn’t appear he was getting much advice about how to do so either. Calzaghe went on to a commanding win on the cards.
It was even worse against Ward. Kessler was never really in the fight and, again, his corner didn’t seem to have any answers. Boxing history suggests that, most of the time, it’s not the corners in the end; suggests that defeat against other world class fighters is typically just an indication that one man was better than another.
From recent vintage, after a defeat at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and a too difficult encounter with Juan Lazcano, Ricky Hatton fired his longtime trainer Billy Graham in favor of Floyd Mayweather Sr. Immediately after, Hatton handled Pauli Malignaggi and the moved seemed genius. In his next outing, Hatton was run out of the ring in two rounds by Manny Pacquiao. The Hatton/Mayweather marriage hasn’t been seen since.
For that matter, neither has Hatton.
There have been other times when a change in the corner and a change in results line up perfectly. In 1993, Evander Holyfield switched from long time mentor George Benton to the fresh eyes of Emanuel Steward and reversed his first career loss to Riddick Bowe. Similarly, Lennox Lewis pulled Steward out of the corner of the first man to defeat him in 1994, Oliver McCall, and went on to avenge that loss on his road to the Hall of Fame
Responding via e-mail through representatives at Sauerland Promotions, Kessler expressed comfort in the corner change. Based in part on Montoya being new only in the head trainer role in camp, Kessler stated, “(Jimmy and I) have always had a brilliant relationship. Jimmy knows so much about boxing and can teach me a lot of things. We have analyzed the Ward fight closely and made a lot of changes – small things and big things.”
What those big, or small, things are was left elusive. “You will find out on Saturday. A lot of things will be different.”
It’s not the only change for Kessler but it is the most recent. Prior to the start of the Super Six, Kessler moved from longtime promoter Mogens Palle of Denmark to the umbrella of Kalle Sauerland in Germany. With legal proceedings still ongoing between Kessler and both promoters, the fighter was unwilling to address the issue directly. “That is in the hands of my lawyers. I only focus on boxing and Froch now.”
As Kessler proceeds in the tournament, he enters round two knowing he’s not the only early favorite to have lost. Arthur Abraham, also promoted by Sauerland, lost by disqualification to Andre Dirrell last month, falling well behind and then hitting the American in round eleven while Dirrell was down following a slip. Is the old adage ‘styles make fights’ at play in the tournament format?
“That is certainly a factor. But I should not have allowed Ward to take my strengths away. It will never happen again…no matter what kind of style the other fighter has.” Kessler stated, but something more than his corner will have to be different this Saturday no matter his rhetorical demeanor.
One thing which probably needs to be different is the use of Kessler’s jab or, more to the point, reversing a decrease in its application. Coming through the ranks, and in winning his first two belts, Kessler showed off a stiff, consistent left jab. Not a fighter who can, or will rely on speedy feet or laser reflexes, Kessler’s height and long jab allowed him to dictate space and tempo against stronger men like Librado Andrade and more athletic men like Anthony Mundine.
Prior to the Calzaghe fight, Kessler was averaging sometimes more than fifty jabs per round in title contests and enough power shots behind them to produce one of the game’s most impressive work rates. By the Ward fight, Kessler was reduced to an output of less than forty punches per round, just more than twenty of them jabs.
Kessler wouldn’t address the output question directly when asked if he was addressing the drop off in his jab, answering only that, “All I can say is that we have worked on a lot of things; you will find out on April 24.”
One answer could be the wear and tear of an already long career, but Kessler says otherwise. A pro since 1998, Kessler has had problems in the past with his back and required major surgery on his right hand after the Calzaghe contest. Asked if these previous injuries remain a bother, Kessler was dismissive. “Not at all. I´m in great shape.”
He’ll need to be against the rugged Froch. Though not blessed with the same sort of athletic gifts his best opponents have had to date, Froch has shown himself to be a fighter in the best sense of the word. The blasé outing versus Dirrell wasn’t enough to erase his gutsy performances immediately before the “Super Six.”
Winning a decision in 2008 versus then-undefeated and current WBC Light Heavyweight titlist Jean Pascal and scoring a come from behind stoppage against former World Middleweight champion Jermain Taylor in 2009 showed real mettle. Both were Fight of the Year contenders and Froch is the sort of willing to war type who can get into that level of action at any time.
Froch also, in some ways, brings Kessler full circle in terms of his biggest moments. His career built for years to the U.K.’s Calzaghe; it may be in the balance against the U.K.’s Froch. Asked if the old scars of defeat to Calzaghe provide extra motivation versus Froch, Kessler marked other priorities. “I don´t need any extra motivation. I want my WBC belt back and I want to win the first points in the Super Six tournament. Believe me, that is enough motivation.”
He’ll also have the motivation of the hometown crowd. Unlike many European based fighters in recent vintage, Kessler hasn’t been as exclusive to his own backyard. He went on the road to face Mundine (in Australia), Ward (in Oakland), and Calzaghe. “As a true champion, you have to fight and defend your title all over the world,” Kessler said, but this weekend he’ll be trying to win a title at MCH Messecenter Herning in Herning, Denmark. Kessler has had many fights in his native country, including his last contest before Ward, but this is the first really live foe he’s had there since Andrade in 2007.
Regardless of location, he’ll enter with full respect for where Froch is, not caught up on the side of those who saw controversy in the Froch-Dirrell contest’s scoring last year. “It was a very close fight but I think Carl deserved to win. He did more to win the fight that night.” Asked what he offers to deter Froch that men like Pascal and Taylor did not, Kessler offered himself as a “better boxer” than either of those men.
There are those who could wonder what happens if what Kessler hopes will be better boxing doesn’t cut it against Froch. Even before the tournament began, speculation existed that a first round loss could mean a first round exit for Jermain Taylor. Following a knockout loss to Abraham, the speculation proved correct and Taylor was out. Now it can be asked if Kessler is really a lock for the third round of the preliminaries if he loses again this Saturday, particularly if the loss is as rough, or rougher, than the Ward outing.
Kessler, predictably, is not open to such talk. “I never think about losing. And I will not lose against Froch. So I will definitely continue.”
That definite will be easier to ascertain after the final bell this weekend. All which can be sure now is Mikkel Kessler is backed up against it in a way he’s never been before. The last two times he’s been in with someone who was perceived as capable of beating him, they did.
Carl Froch appears capable.
If Kessler wants to win the “Super Six” and remain a force at Super Middleweight, he must win this weekend and prove those appearances deceiving.
Weekly Ledger
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Cliff’s Notes…
Rest in Peace Viera Valero and may God bless the children you were taken from.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com