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This is about what modifications they can make to their style, and what they can work on in the gym in the next couple of months, rather than about the flaws that they cannot change. Froch for example isn't particularly fast and holds his hands low. It's unrealistic to expect him to greatly improve in the speed department, but keeping his hands up is a sensible expectation, if you think that'd benefit his future performances.
Kessler: As many people have commented, Kessler looked to have zero inside skills and did very badly against Ward when they were up close. It can take years to develop into a great inside fighter, but it shouldn't take a skillful, experienced boxer too long to at least become adequate in that area. IMO he should get some rough, tough, experienced sparring partners in. Guys who know the tricks of the trade and who Kessler can learn from. I don't think Mikkel should try to foul people, but he should learn how to respond when an opponent leads with their head or looks to tie him up on the inside.
Kessler has a very good right uppercut, but it was under-used against Ward, who looked like he might be open to it. That uppercut will come in handy if Froch makes any wild swings or lunges forward, so he should remember to use it a bit more in future.
I've stated elsewhere that I don't think Kessler is all that strong in terms of will power and confidence. Whether or not his mental game is anymore fixable than a bad chin, I'm not sure. I think that reports of him hiring a mental coach/sports psychologist are a good thing though.
I think he also needs to work out a gameplan for his future opponents that features both a plan A and a Plan B. What weaknesses does his opponent show when coming forward? What weaknesses does he show when backing up? Does he leave himself open when throwing a certain punch? I'm not sure if Kessler worked on any of this stuff for the Ward fight. It certainly didn't look like it.
Froch: He should work on his inside game, particularly his body punches. Froch prefers to have people on the end of his punches, just like a lot of boxers do. However there are times when the situation calls for something else, such as a short left to the body. Against Taylor, Froch landed some good body shots, but against Dirrell that wasn't the case. Dirrell is elusive and fast, and was able to make Froch miss with most of his head punches, but the body is a larger target and Froch should've targetted Dirrell there IMO. I think it would be to his advantage to work on landing to the body against Kessler.
Rather than rabbit punch in clinches vs Dirrell, Froch should've thrown body punches. An example of this is Calzaghe-Hopkins, where Calzaghe would still be looking to work even when there was holding.
Froch should look to start fast. Dirrell, who was inexperienced and looked unsure of himself at times, may have struggled if Froch had come out very aggressive in the first round. Even if Dirrell had handled the situation well, Froch is known for his endurance, Dirrell had never been the full 12, so setting a high pace might have paid off late in the fight. This is important for his next fight, because he needs to make sure that Kessler cannot find his rhythm (which is what Ward did).
Abraham: In some of his fights, Abraham clearly ups his work-rate in the last 30 seconds in an attempt to steal the round. Against Taylor I felt that he gave a couple of rounds away because he didn't do this. Perhaps he felt that he was ahead on points already and he was looking for an opening to reveal itself, but we've all seen bad scorecards in the past, and if Abraham-Dirrell goes the distance that it may be a very hard to score fight because of the styles, so putting in an extra bit of effort towards the end of a round may be the difference between winning and losing.
Dirrell: Very talented, but didn't perform well last time out, despite doing enough to earn the W on my card. Fast, skilled and with better power than his record suggests, I think he needs to work on winning rounds a bit more clearly. His body language was quite negative at times in the Froch fight, and this is perhaps why some scored the close rounds in favour of his opponent.
As the tallest boxer in the S6 about to fight the shortest, he should work on combining the lateral movement he utilised against Froch with a more frequently thrown jab.
I think he should look to land his quick straight left when Abraham throws wide punches. He should also throw quick combinations in close rounds in order to steal them. AA hits very hard, but he is not a great counter-puncher. Any boxer who opens up against a power puncher is taking a risk, but I'm not suggesting that he throw 10 punch combinations. Dirrell is fast enough that he can throw 2-3 punches, move, punch again, clinch etc. and not get caught. AA fights in spurts, he doesn't keep his hands so high because he's looking to block and then quickly counter over the top.
Ward: Was very impressive in his fights with Kessler and Miranda. No boxer is perfect, of course, but so far no one Ward has faced has really exposed any stylistic weaknesses.
Taylor: I don't think that stamina was the reason that he was knocked out against AA, despite it happening near the end of a tough fight. Still, Ward is a high-tempo kind of guy, and Taylor would do well to break his rhythm, particularly with holding and counter right hands.
In my opinion both Froch-Kessler and Abraham-Dirrell are potentially very close fights, and the man with the best gameplan will win. I feel that Ward is quite a bit better than Taylor at this point, so I found it harder to come up with things for those two. I'm not sure if even a perfectly prepared Taylor could beat an underprepared version of Andre Ward.
Kessler: As many people have commented, Kessler looked to have zero inside skills and did very badly against Ward when they were up close. It can take years to develop into a great inside fighter, but it shouldn't take a skillful, experienced boxer too long to at least become adequate in that area. IMO he should get some rough, tough, experienced sparring partners in. Guys who know the tricks of the trade and who Kessler can learn from. I don't think Mikkel should try to foul people, but he should learn how to respond when an opponent leads with their head or looks to tie him up on the inside.
Kessler has a very good right uppercut, but it was under-used against Ward, who looked like he might be open to it. That uppercut will come in handy if Froch makes any wild swings or lunges forward, so he should remember to use it a bit more in future.
I've stated elsewhere that I don't think Kessler is all that strong in terms of will power and confidence. Whether or not his mental game is anymore fixable than a bad chin, I'm not sure. I think that reports of him hiring a mental coach/sports psychologist are a good thing though.
I think he also needs to work out a gameplan for his future opponents that features both a plan A and a Plan B. What weaknesses does his opponent show when coming forward? What weaknesses does he show when backing up? Does he leave himself open when throwing a certain punch? I'm not sure if Kessler worked on any of this stuff for the Ward fight. It certainly didn't look like it.
Froch: He should work on his inside game, particularly his body punches. Froch prefers to have people on the end of his punches, just like a lot of boxers do. However there are times when the situation calls for something else, such as a short left to the body. Against Taylor, Froch landed some good body shots, but against Dirrell that wasn't the case. Dirrell is elusive and fast, and was able to make Froch miss with most of his head punches, but the body is a larger target and Froch should've targetted Dirrell there IMO. I think it would be to his advantage to work on landing to the body against Kessler.
Rather than rabbit punch in clinches vs Dirrell, Froch should've thrown body punches. An example of this is Calzaghe-Hopkins, where Calzaghe would still be looking to work even when there was holding.
Froch should look to start fast. Dirrell, who was inexperienced and looked unsure of himself at times, may have struggled if Froch had come out very aggressive in the first round. Even if Dirrell had handled the situation well, Froch is known for his endurance, Dirrell had never been the full 12, so setting a high pace might have paid off late in the fight. This is important for his next fight, because he needs to make sure that Kessler cannot find his rhythm (which is what Ward did).
Abraham: In some of his fights, Abraham clearly ups his work-rate in the last 30 seconds in an attempt to steal the round. Against Taylor I felt that he gave a couple of rounds away because he didn't do this. Perhaps he felt that he was ahead on points already and he was looking for an opening to reveal itself, but we've all seen bad scorecards in the past, and if Abraham-Dirrell goes the distance that it may be a very hard to score fight because of the styles, so putting in an extra bit of effort towards the end of a round may be the difference between winning and losing.
Dirrell: Very talented, but didn't perform well last time out, despite doing enough to earn the W on my card. Fast, skilled and with better power than his record suggests, I think he needs to work on winning rounds a bit more clearly. His body language was quite negative at times in the Froch fight, and this is perhaps why some scored the close rounds in favour of his opponent.
As the tallest boxer in the S6 about to fight the shortest, he should work on combining the lateral movement he utilised against Froch with a more frequently thrown jab.
I think he should look to land his quick straight left when Abraham throws wide punches. He should also throw quick combinations in close rounds in order to steal them. AA hits very hard, but he is not a great counter-puncher. Any boxer who opens up against a power puncher is taking a risk, but I'm not suggesting that he throw 10 punch combinations. Dirrell is fast enough that he can throw 2-3 punches, move, punch again, clinch etc. and not get caught. AA fights in spurts, he doesn't keep his hands so high because he's looking to block and then quickly counter over the top.
Ward: Was very impressive in his fights with Kessler and Miranda. No boxer is perfect, of course, but so far no one Ward has faced has really exposed any stylistic weaknesses.
Taylor: I don't think that stamina was the reason that he was knocked out against AA, despite it happening near the end of a tough fight. Still, Ward is a high-tempo kind of guy, and Taylor would do well to break his rhythm, particularly with holding and counter right hands.
In my opinion both Froch-Kessler and Abraham-Dirrell are potentially very close fights, and the man with the best gameplan will win. I feel that Ward is quite a bit better than Taylor at this point, so I found it harder to come up with things for those two. I'm not sure if even a perfectly prepared Taylor could beat an underprepared version of Andre Ward.