I thought 116-112. It was not as one sided as the Lacy fight. Kessler gave Calzaghe some problems and landed some lovely bombs. Straight rights and uppercuts. Very competitive fight, but Calzaghe as clear winner.
I had it 115-113. I'm surprised I had it that close*. But then again, I suffer from "I can't be too biased here" syndrome and this often means I give close rounds to the other guy (our school teacher Mr Hesketh was terribly biased towards other schools' when we played them in footy, so maybe he did influence me more than I let on). * But in no way was it one of those, 'if you changed one round from Joe to Mikkel then it'd be even'. 5-7 is the absolute best Kessler does.
No excuses. I've been thoroughly beaten with my prediction. My hat off to everyone who believed in Calzaghe all along.
This is a good score. 8-4, or 8-3-1. The thing is Kessler had the right set of skills to land his best stuff. Kessler is a good counter puncher and good power puncher. These type of skills can level the playing field vs a faster fighter. It was not enough. Clazaghe was good on defense, threw too many punches, and has a real fighting sprit, which is somewhat rare among super fast & skilled boxers. Perhaps the best punch to catch Calzaghe ( besides the uppercut ) is the hook....the RIGHT hook. Landing a left hook on a defensive southpaw is difficult. Calzaghe easily avoided these, but southpaw's are suckers for rights, and the tend to circle into right hooks, not away from them as in left hooks. The right hook is not a punch that most orthodox fighters throw, but it is in my opinion a punch that can land on Clazaghe.
I enjoyed your analysis for the most part. The thing that scuppered you was your inflated opinion of the Kessler jab. Believing as you did, you had to make the choices you made.
Something in that. Put it this way, i'm happy that there were no rounds that I could have scored for Kessler than I didn't - he definitely wasn't hard done by in any round as far as my scoring is concerned. Which way did you score round one? I scored it for Kessler, I had seven guys at mine and they ALL gave it to Calzaghe.
Yeah i'm with MDWC, excellent sportsmanship squire. You went out on a limb and took a brave punt, can't fault that mate.
No. Because i then might not have given Kessler the benefit of the doubt two or three times. And one 10-9 Joe would become a 10-10 anyway. :good
But then you might, so you could of, hell you may of had it 12-0 Kessler if you wanted. :nut But I know what you are saying.:good
7-5 JC is a good score imo, especially if you emphasise clean effective punching, which is the primary criterion when scoring a fight. Props to Calzaghe for having great stamina, handspeed and a world class chin. Props to Kessler for giving it his all and going for the knockout at the death.
I'm still shocked of what happened though. I wouldn't be making such straightforward prediction if I weren't very sure of it.
Very good fight, I scored it 116-112 in Calzaghe's favour. Kessler had a very strong start and landed some very good shots early on, rocking Joe on a few occasions (especially with a peach of an uppercut in the 4th). Calzaghe took 'em, kept pressing, fired back and started to gain the upperhand from the mid-rounds onwards outjabbing, outboxing and when required outslugging Kessler. Joe's work to the body was top notch and it took its toll on Kessler who tired first and was visibly worn down during the later stages, being nowhere near as successful with his own counterpunches and attacks as in the early stages, fair play to Kessler though he hung in there and tried to go for roke in the final few rounds but didn't have enough left. I gave Calzaghe five of the last six rounds. A competitive fight but clearcut verdict in the end, tremendous performance. :good
