116-112 Kessler. Thought Froch started too slow, and Kessler showed great grit blazing back when under attack in the twelfth round. That got him the deserved nod I thought. The crowd was a definite boost for Kessler that night, helped him through the rough parts and inspired him.
Scored it the exact same, 115-115 with two even rounds. Absolute war but when a fight is that close you can't be surprised that the home guy fighter gets the decision. Thought the 117-111 and 116-112 scorecards though were a joke though. I personally feel it was probably Kessler's career best performance. Many were saying he was finished after being beat by Ward but **** me he rebounded strong.
kessler boxed **** i still had him winning by two I think this was the last fight he had before eye op aswell , he was complaining of double vision after the warfight
Froch for me boxed nicely off the back foot early on. Hes more awkward than people realise then i think Kessler took the middle rounds with a nice body attack and he seemed to hurt Froch a few times with straight rights to the mid section. Then the later stages was back and forth and some nice toe to toe action but Kessler seemed to slightly get the better of it maybe with his faster hands and the fact he was constantly moving forward and Froch was reacting to Kesslers attacks. I think 7-5 Kessler or a draw is about right. Froch didnt do enough to win in Kesslers backyard but there are a definite 6 rounds you can give him in that fight.
I had two rounds to Kessler being reasonably kind to Froch. I don't think Froch boxed well at all that night he didn't listen to McCracken and seemed to think he could just have an all out war with Kessler and just slug it out with no defence and manage to KO a guy that has never been stopped before unless you count the cuts against Ward. It was insane tactics and he paid the price. If he had used the jab and been more cagey and listened to McCracken he could have won the fight in my opinion. I think he'll win in the UK in another very close fight, on the score cards though, I don't see him stopping Kessler somehow. Wouldn't be surprised either way however it's an impossible fight to predict and not one I will be betting on!
I've heard him on numerous occasions ***** and moan about it. The mantra was: "If the fight was in England...." Strange about face.
I thought Kessler (who was very poor by his standards, as he was against Pedermo and Ward) won it by a couple, maybe even slightly more. Froch was below par too that night but Kessler was even further removed from his best, IMO. Kessler won that fight on sheer will and determination. He wanted it very badly and he wasn't going to let his home crowd down come hell or high water. He was also fighting with a horrific cut over his eye for the last couple of rounds too, a remnant of one of those ''accidental'' butts Ward deliberately clocked him with. Those cuts were very deep and gaping and they could well prove to be a factor again in this fight. Hopefully they won't though.