When Kessler dominates Ward (and he will)...

:good
This is my comment from sep. 23 on the subject.

. . . .

""Comments on the handspeed and fighting on the inside.

Funny thing is, that before the Calzaghe fight i was sure Kessler would beat him at the distance with the jab. Calzaghe won the jab contest, "because Kessler couldn't handle the second attack", as Enzo said!. Calzaghe simple won more rounds, because he attacked before Kessler was "ready" to clinch again.

Kessler did very well in the first 4 rounds. In the 2. or 3. round Calzaghe tried to make it to a inside brawl. But strange enough, Kessler had the faster hands, turned Calzaghe around, trapped him at the ropes and throw hard punches. Calzaghe never tried the in fight again.

Kessler tried to get his counter punching going. And he did very well. Tripping a little back wards, and countering with fast 2-3 combinations and hitting Calzaghe hard more than ones!.

But Calzaghe could handle it and kept on "stealing the rounds".

In that fight, Kessler only won rounds when he stepped a little forward, put on pressure and, with very good footwork, cut of the ring. In the Perdomo fight, Kessler tried to counter punch for 2 rounds before he changed his game plan and began to put on pressure. Exactly like he did in his best win against a very similar fighter to Ward - Mundine.

1) What i am trying to say to Ward fans is: Everybody thought Calzaghe would have the faster hands and would be better at the inside - but they/i was wrong!

2) If you assumes Kessler to be a well protected EU-fighter your are wrong. Kessler's biggest dream has always been to be the best ever by unifying the belts by fighting the best. So Kessler is more determinate, strong and lethal than ever.

I could see a competetive fight like Mundine vs. Kessler. Kesslers best win today."

. . . .

 

just thought id post and mention calzaghe's name!!

i feel he is name checked all too little these days on esb.

p.s i cant wait for kessler to smash this tomato can and then taylor,that will be satisfactory enough for me (win or lose the tourny) and for jc.

 

This content is protected

I'm going to have to affirm PP's statement that he knows as much or more than anyone about the 168's after his thorough, compelling analysis in this thread.

Any savvy observer of the SMW division or the Super Six Showdown set-up knows that the two most relevant fights for the Kessler-Ward tilt are Kessler-Calzaghe and Kessler-Mundine.

Kessler gave Calzaghe probably the hardest fight Joe has ever had, at least the hardest fight not involving heavy doses of punch-and-grab, wrestling and fake low blows. From a skill/ability perspective, Mikkel was Joe's toughest go, a fact which Joe has admitted. The fight was one of the very rare times that Calzaghe wasn't able to simply impose his "swarm" style on his opponent. And, as PP said, that was because of one main thing: MK's timing. MK's timing is at the top of the sport, or at least tied with PBF's and a pre-Margarito Cotto. Maybe Manny P's as well, but I think Pac's overwhelming talent is speed more than timing. Possibly both.

Mundine was Ward before Ward. And he had faced better competition than had Ward when he fought Kessler. Etc, etc. Kessler is a better fighter than when he fought Mundine yet he still obliterated Mundine once he made the in-fight adjustments.

Best of luck to Ward and all of his fans on here -- you'll need it.

Yes, boxing matches aren't fought on paper and anything can happen in the ring. That said, PP has laid it all out here and I agree with him 100%. Based upon everything we know about the two fighters, it would be an enormous upset if Ward is able to defeat Mikkel Kessler. Probably a better question to ask is will Ward be able to seriously compete with the Dane over the course of the entire fight.

 

I too have Kessler by late TKO. But I would be surprised by a Ward UD. Kessler was frustrated by Perdomo for three rounds because Perdomo gave ALL he had in those three rounds. After that Perdomo was a sitting duck waiting to be KOed. Ward can and probably will give Kessler a lot of trouble but only for six rounds..at most. Ward can probably avoid Kessler's lethal straight right hand by holding an awful lot. Judging from Wards fight against Miranda I expect to see that. Kessler needs to use his brain and cut the ring off properly. Then eventually he'll catch Ward and put him to sleep.