Calzaghe-Kessler re-visited closer than people think

Yes, I would think so. The standards are set pretty high for Bute though, a 12-0 domination to match. So he has to KO him really to better that.

He doesn't really need to do so. A 9-3 type convincing win would be enough to get some excitement going for Bute-Kessler. Especially as some might argue Kessler has not been fighting enough, and the different styles matchup.

 

Calz. vs. Kessler was my favorite fight of 2007, granted I mostly watch the big ones. Both great fighters and well matched. The way Calz. adjusted to Kessler was a great display. I have not watched in a while, but scoring wise I had Calzaghe way out front by maybe 8-4 or even 9-3, but the fight was much more competitive than my score indicates as many of the rounds were close.

 

1. Kessler
2. Even
3. Calzaghe
4. Kessler
5. Calzaghe
6. Calzaghe
7. Calzaghe
8. Calzaghe
9. Even
10. Calzaghe
11. Calzaghe
12. Even/Kessler

From rounds 5-11 Kessler was outsmarted by Calzaghe, joes smarts and tactics changing during the fight, thats what makes calzaghe a special fighter changing to whats in the ring. Many fighters come to fights with plan a,b,c,d etc but not every opponent are predictable to have plans to counter.

Great performance by calzaghe

 

edit

 

This guy knows what 'elite' means. These four guys are the current world elite. You can't say a guy who has been a short-term supermiddleweight champion, has never been p4p ranked, nor has ever beaten anyone who was p4p ranked, is an "elite" fighter.

 

I have watched it three times......

Once live
Once the week after on BBC
About a month ago

Live I was thinking 116-112
The week after was 115-113
I have now settled on 116-113

 

I disagree, to me the word "elite" means the very very top-class of fighter (ie you can't say the elite is always the top 15, because what if boxing goes through a bad period and the majority of the top 15 are pretty poor? They are then more liable to lose and therefore should not be called "elite") but even then, Kessler wouldn't be in my top 15 p4p and I doubt he is in The Ring's.

Right now there is a clear world-elite, it's Pacquiao, Marquez, Hopkins and Calzaghe.

In history, there is a clear 7 fighter elite IMO:
Robinson, Greb, Langford, Armstrong, Ali, Charles, Duran.

This is my understanding of the word "elite", not anyone who wins a title in any weight division and defends it a couple of times.

 

What the word elite means and what it means to you may be 2 different things. It means the top or the top group, how big that group is is up for debate. Kessler was an undefeated reigning unified world champion, who ran the other undefeated reigning unified world champion in his division damn close. To me that makes him an elite fighter

 

Nope, Dawson is already elite, Kessler's not quite there and never will be. :good

 

atsch :-(
Horrible fail