I think Kessler takes a UD here... not necessarily wide but he takes it clearly. It seems like Kessler does almost everything stylistically to trouble James.
Toney's head movement and fluid counterpunching would cause the more methodical and predictable Kessler all sorts of problems. Toney wide UD.
Toney wide UD. Just a higher class fighter. If he was indeed in prime condition, he'd work Kessler out and beat him in a similar fashion to how he beat Jirov.
Depends on which Toney shows up. If he nearly puts himself in the hospital trying to make weight at the last minute and/or comes in overconfident, then Kessler. If he actually shows up healthy, focused, and motivated, then Toney. James was more like a roller coaster at the lower weights, whereas Kessler, you pretty much know what you're getting fight in, fight out. When James was "up", he was the better fighter.
I see Toney countering the sh*t out of the predictable and mechanical Kessler. I see Toney standing right in front of Kessler and making Kessler miss with his shoulder rolls. And if he does get hit, he seems to have an instinctive ability to take away the power of his opponents' punches by moving towards the shots before they gain momentum.
Is that so? In his last 2 fights Kessler has taken rounds off, looked shaky, and less than confident to say the least. Toney for his part surely had his ups and downs, particularly when he was struggling to boil down to 168, as a natural Lightheavyweight. But Kessler is far from consistant in this regard himself.
Toney is very overrated. Kessler has the style to give him fits, not sure he has the substance though. We'll have to wait and see.
What style is that? He does not have the hands or head movement of a Griffin or Jones, nor does he have the footwork of Nunn. A straight up boxer like Kessler gets picked off by Toney imo and goes into his shell, like he did against Calzaghe.
Kessler's got to prove he's bounced back 100% from the Calzaghe loss, but James was much more hit and miss at the lower weights. That's not that surprising given how drastic some of the weight draining he had to do was because his body desperately needed to move up in weight. Kessler, even in being rusty his last fight out, still inflicted a ton of damage on Sartison. Toney won a controversial decision against Dave Tiberi and fought like he had on cement trunks and gloves vs Roy. I think it's fair to say his lows were lower, but Toney's highs were higher, as well. I stick by my original post. Assuming both guys come in 100% focused and healthy, Toney would likely win. If Toney has an off night, Kessler would take it.