Was Mikkel Kessler's eye damaged by Ward's deliberate headbutts?

[The Hammer]

In his fight in Oakland, Mikkel Kessler received several deliberate headbutts from Andre Ward, the last of which gave him an especially nasty cut over the eye. It must have hurt a lot, we saw Mikkel wince in pain. The referee Jack Reiss soon stopped the fight.

Mikkel's other eye had been cut by a headbutt from Ward in an early round.

Is Mikkel's current eye problem the result of those deliberate fouls by Ward?

The crooked home referee Reiss never gave Ward so much as a warning during the fight, and smirked as Mikkel winced in pain after that last, nastiest headbutt.

[warp1432]

Which is why he pulled out of the Froch fight.

[carlos slim]

no thats a huge reach...he fought tough vs froch....i think he realized he was gonna face abraham sooner or later and quit instead of being bombed on...he saved his record at the expense of his dignity as a man...who am i kidding euros have no dignity...

[Rosseboi]

I was thinking this too, Kessler's eye was pretty ****ed in that fight and media reports say it has been affecting his training for a while but it won't heal until he takes a longer break.

[Crazylegs77]

I think your on to something here.

[The Hammer]

Which is why he pulled out of the Froch fight.

He is a courageous man, he went through with the Froch fight anyway.

But according to the reports today, the eye was bothering him during the training camp for the Froch fight. If you watch the Froch-Kessler fight video, you can see Mikkel blinking a lot.

[starjammer]

'The eye problem has bothered me since the beginning of the Super Six in my preparation for the bout against Ward' - Kessler

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=30355

Seems he's been dealing with it a while.

[infamous larryx]

hes had a fight since then tunney..and handed froch his first loss and won a title..come on now

[Crazylegs77]

'The eye problem has bothered me since the beginning of the Super Six in my preparation for the bout against Ward' - Kessler

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=30355

Seems he's been dealing with it a while.

That explains the poor showing vs Ward. The butts just made matters even worse.

[-EX-]

If you watch the Froch-Kessler fight video, you can see Mikkel blinking a lot.

I thought Kessler said it was bothering him during the TRAINING CAMPS for BOTH fights? ...