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

Not enough choices in your POLL so that is a one way biased poll.

it all depends on if
Kessler became "old" before our eyes or threw the fight. We will find that out in his next fight. If he doesn't KO Froch then he should retire.

 

I'll tell you one thing...Kessler had better be able to make adjustments in there come fight night. I can't see Kessler being KO'd, nor can I see him stopping Abraham. The advantage in a 12 round decision would have to go to Kessler, since he's an accurate, offensively minded fighter. Abraham isn't usually active enough to win rounds unless he sneaks in a few really good shots. But with Kessler's chin, the shots that Abraham lands won't look quite as big, so Kessler may be able to get a points win. I'd expect in to be a very very close fight though.

P.S.
I would LOVE to see Ward attempt the same tactics against Froch. I can totally see Froch powerbombing the guy through the canvas and taking the DQ, just to prove a point that he is not a man to be ****ed with for any reason ever.

 

See the bold. That's the type of thing I keep saying. About the 2nd or 3rd time Ward came in with his head down low getting ready to set up another head butt, Froch would do something crazy!!! God only knows what it would be, but it would be wild. Based on past events I'm at least 90% sure AA would shove his head down and plant a knee in his face and Pavlik would blast him with a forearm. Very disturbing that Kessler did not know how to fight fire with fire.

 

I agree, I think Abraham is an unusual fighter. Like someone said earlier, he doesnt have alot of versatility, but his style doesnt make that necessary. Yeah, his resume isn't great, but who's in the SMW division is? Taylor's is good, but on the wrong end all the time lately and he's got a dubious streak of brutal KO's going. My belief that AA will KO MK is less based on what I think of Kessler and more what I think AA can do in this particular matchup. I don 't think Kessler is finished, because I think he will beat Froch, but if he meets up with AA, I don't like his chances.

 

Abraham is nothing like Ward or Calaghe so yes its possible Kessler could/can beat him.

 

I don't believe so much in all this stuff about "a bad day for MK". At this level of sports there is no such thing as a "bad day". It turned off MK big time when the ref did not give Ward any warnings for his foul tatctics. A warning would most likely have forced Ward to change his style (head butting and holding). Would MK have lost anyway? Maybe/Probably, but certainly not as clear cut as was the case and his face would not have been messed up the way it was.
I agree far more with the inactivity issues. MK's time away from absolute top fighting has been way too long and it shows in movement and punch accuracy and trigger time. Forget Sartison and Perdomo. Those fights didn't do much more than preventing the rust from turning crispy. MK needs to find some inspiration, focus more on boxing tactics and more importantly adding some dirty tricks to his game, that is, using elbows and shoulders etc. etc.. Montoya is the man for making these changes. Defensively, increased head movement would serve him well. Can he find his old self he can outpoint AA, of course he can. Because of AAs super tight guard hooks should do the job. Ultimately I believe the outcome of MK-AA depends on how MKs chin deals with AAs trade mark power punches.