does anyone still think Kessler could have beaten Abraham at 168 ?

I'm not voting on the poll because of the stupid caveats to the options but I'd still say Kessler has a good chance of outpointing Abraham. I'd give him less chance now than I'd have given him before the Ward fight but I also think that was just a bad night for Kessler, maybe due to his inactivity and weak opposition and he might get better as the tournament goes on.

 

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck me, someone comes back rusty as **** and gets beaten up by a very quick puncher, who was a sylelistic nightmare for him anyway... 2+2=4... you feel me, the kessler from the Calzaghe fight would beat abraham handily, simply because of the activity and confidence factor, now im not sure, this is make or break time for Mikkel, either sit back and winge about Wards cheating (he did cheat, but won the fight anyway) or get off his ass and invest in a new trainer who can develop Mikkels confidence and give him a plan B

 

Yes, and I'd still favor Kessler to beat Abraham. Ward kept Kessler off kilter with his unpredictability. Abraham might just be the most predictable world class fighter out there other than Juan Urango.

 

Oh boy. Kessler had one bad performance and now he's a hype job. The Kessler that faced Calzaghe would have beaten Abraham imo. Maybe Kessler is past his best already, or maybe he just had a very bad night against Ward.. but he sure was a very good fighter pre Ward. And I wouldn't write him off just yet.

 

I think Kessler would beat Abraham still, Abraham ain't some athletically superior boxer, hes just a bog standard fighter with durability and a dangerous punch, and can walk fighters down... he ain't got no great boxing skills and stylish talent, doesn't move about, just walks forward flat footed with a high guard......

I think Kessler would tee off on him, being the better/quicker/flashier boxer and either winning on points or KO'ing him !!

Abraham would walk into punches and would fight at Kesslers pace, just following him about the ring trying to stalk i think..... or could try and box and move, but i don't reckon he'd do to well

Kessler is a simple fighter, but has got talent in his punching and physical strength to not be over powered, or intimidated, and has got a massive heart..... and has got some flashy and powerful dangerous punches when you give him space and time to let them go.. and thats what Abraham would do i think, hes a once paced fighter, who would basically suit Kesslers syle.....

 

At some point Abraham would've landed a vicious counter right and the fight would've been over Kessler is too simple a fighter to beat a guy like Abraham

 

When did Abraham "walk" into punches ? It happened exactly ones, with a trick punch from Miranda. He gets countered about as often as Bernard Hopkins.

 

I'm just glad this thread hasn't degenerated into a Calzaghe love/hate orgy .......yet. ......as many Kessler threads seem to do. With that, I still won't vote on the poll because its baited. Anyway, I don't think Kessler would beat Abraham. I think his defense is solid, his countering is good and he hits hard. I don't think MK has the tools to break that defense down, and while trying to do so will be countered. I think he would eventually wear MK down and win by KO.

 

People on ESB only remember the last fight, now AA is a monster bc. he knocked down Taylor!!! Wow never happend before, I've seen a lot of AA fights, he's good but not unbeatable. Kessler had an extreme off day against Ward, and now he's ****. Have anybody seen Kessler on the canvas or even shaken ? No. so why do you think AA will Ko. him? Give it a rest, Kessler will meet Froch next, this fight will tell us if he's still in the mix.
And if he perform as we know he can, he'll Ko. Froch.

 

By the way what an idiotic poll, you seems to have a problem!!!!!!!!!!

 

I think you are mislead about Abraham. He is not a graceful mover in the ring and it's easy to point out the things he doesn't do. But most of those things he simply doesn't need. Abraham is not at all walking into punches. He got careless against Miranda once, other than that, his turtle shell is one of the most frustrating puzzles in boxing right now. Abraham just has these long forearms plus a short upper body, which allows him to cover head and body with almost no movement of the hands. Targeting the body to expose the head doesn't work with Abraham for that reason. His turtle shell also negates an opponent's jab.

Abraham is hard to hit and hits very hard. He is also unusually confident, not in the pre - fight trash talking way, but when it counts, in the ring. I like Kessler and one loss doesn't make a good fighter into a bum. But Abraham is a difficult puzzle to solve for anyone.

 

The thing that bothered me most about Kessler/Ward was that Mikkell had no answers for Ward's tactics. He seemed entirely dependent on the ref to put a stop to the fouling. When Reiss failed to address it neither Kessler nor his corner knew what to do.

If you put Froch, Abraham, Pavlik, or for that matter even Jermain Taylor, in the same situation any one of those guys would go to ****ing WAR. I'm not saying all those guys can beat Ward. I'm simply saying they would know how to make Ward pay for his tactics, and might be able to make him pay a high enough price to knock it off.

The reason I think this is very important is that Abraham is a very dirty fighter. He's not as dirty as Ward, but he throws a right cross/right elbow combo better than anyone in the sport. He's also no stranger to the idea that knees make good weapons, and he rabbit punches like a mother ****er.

Will Mikkell know what to do this time? Will the ref be world class, or another scrub off ESPN?

In addition, Kessler looked like 42 fights, age, and previous injuries are starting to catch up to him. A year ago I would have ridiculed the **** out of anyone who picked Arthur "the can killer" Abraham over Kessler. Now I'm not so sure. I will say the same thing about Kessler I said about Taylor, "When you lose to Abraham, it's time to retire."

 

Since when has Abraham been a dirty fighter? :think

 

Kessler is methodical not simple:good

 

Didn't you know? If you keep saying nonsense to yourself, soon you'll start seeing things. It's called clinical obsession. Needs medical treatment.