Kessler - please change your agent!

YES ! it's disgusting with such a good boxer, such a bad team:|

 

If you forget Calzaghe, I think Kessler beats everyone else out there.
He needs a Big 2009, with lots of decent fighters around.

 

Well, many big managers would pay a fortune to get their hands on Kessler.. but Palle got a very solid grip on him, they would never let him go! I agree with you he should get away from team Palle right now.

 

It's an absolute outrage. The man is undeniably talented but Palle's handling of him is atrocious. Unless he starts getting the big fights, and soon, his career will pass him by and he'll be another one of those 'what ifs'.

 

EXACTLY. The guy needs to realise that his interests and the interests of Palle are not aligned. It would be a discredit to him, the sport of boxing and us fans if a fighter of his potential doesn't get the fights he deserves. If his next fight isn't against a big name I think it's pretty obvious that we're going to have another Ottke type scenario on our hands. But it's up to him to realise that he could end up being a padded paper champ and do something about it.

 

agreed he is an old disgrace for danish boxing en general and Kessler in particular.

He problably follows this forum so Mogens here is my advice...........Retire and let your daughter do something else.

 

Who are the big names you think he should be fighting?

They have to agree to fight him as well you know.

If you compare Kessler's record to any of his potential opposition then his record of going outside his comfort zone to get fights is superior to most of those I suspect you would suggest.

 

Abraham
Pavlik
Hopkins
Wright
Taylor
Bute
Froch
Dawson
Johnson
Tarver

are good fights for Kessler. I think he should do something to get one of those guys to fight him. I would say that a reasonable proportion of those guys have taken riskier paths than Kessler. But I have no problem with the path that Kessler has taken up until his last fight. IMO Kessler is at risk of making himself redundant if he keeps defending a title against nobodies. The only risky fights Kessler has taken is vs Calzaghe and arguably against Mundine in Australia. I think now is the time he needs to step it up because he has shown that he could be one of the elite.

 

Right, well if we eliminate the old guys from that list and look at those around Kessler's own age, then clearly Bute, Froch and Dawson have remained well ensconced in their own comfort zones to this point, Dawson even binning a title to avoid having to take an easily winnable fight abroad in favour of a lower paid contest in the US. Taylor has fought some names, but again all within his own comfort zone. Pavlik is probably the only one who has done anything that one might compare to Kessler, stepping up two weights to take on Hopkins, although the experience appears to have put him off any repeats.

If you have no problem with Kessler's attitude up until his last fight, well his last fight was a mandatory that he had no desire to be involved in, but he took care of business in order to retain his belt as leverage to get those kind of fights you mention.

 

Calm down everyone. The plan is to cement his name in America next year, no?

Kessler did not make Sartison and Haussler top contenders. Sartison was a quite good challenger, by the way.

Kessler has been in 2 unifications, and most of his challengers are solid. It is time that he got another big name, or marketable opponent. Hopefully his plan of getting known in America, vs an American fighter, gets him something big on HBO or Showtime. A win over someone like Taylor or Pavlik would probably raise his ratings and profile than had he beaten Calzaghe.

I think every super middle champ worth his salt (Kessler, Froch) should be waiting out Abraham if the weight concerns of AA are true as he'll be moving up.

 

edit

 

They've been to the US three ties to get DiBella to agree to it, and HBO set a date and time slot for it and everything, even facing derision and ridicule from everyone and his uncle for refusing to show Froch vs Taylor, and Taylor still won't take the fight.

Bhop has openly refused to fight Kessler. The same for Wright. Froch may be a possibility, but there's not much money in it. Bute has contractual probems en masse, and Dawson won't fight Kessler at below 175 (Note: Kessler is a former light-middle)

 

If Aabraham moves up (please do Pavlik-AA or Sturm-AA first through!) Kessler is the obviousl opponent, as he is very well known in Germany.

 

Why remove the old guys from the list?

Each fighters situation is unique but it is inconsequential whether Bute, Froch or Dawson have taken more comfortable fights than Kessler, we're talking about Kessler's career here. (IMO Dawson has taken on as hard opposition anyway).

To say that Taylor has only fought against guys in his comfort zone is misgiuded unless you consider comfort zone only determined by weight. The guy fought elite fighter after elite fighter.

As far as fighting madatories, yes I understand that having a title can give you leverage to get meaningful fights but you need to strike a balance. If it becomes apparent that you're defending your title and not getting substantial fights out of it then you need to ditch the title. IMO Kessler is at the point where he needs to fight a marquee name. Just so you know I'm not a Kessler hater. Along with Cotto he's my favourite active fighter.