Fill me in on last night please... Kessler questions

Kessler and many of the Europeans thought the same way. Kessler would walk in the ring and walk out with a win, without much trouble. I said all along if it was Sauerland plan to have AA and Kessler face off in the finals Ward was a mistake. Most of us Americans felt that Taylor was cooked going in and that Dirrell lacked focus and wasnt ready for this level of fighters. But Ward was a different story, if one was to go back a check you would find that while many of us thought that Dirrell had a shot due to his elite talent, we felt that Ward had a shot at winning the whole thing.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves just yet it was only the first round, and its very possible that all three of the fighters that lost in the first round could win the remaining fights and make it to the final four. I doubt it but its possible, while maybe not for Taylor who should really drop out. And if he does fight on he will be stopped by Ward at which point I really see no point in him fighting out period and im not just talking about the super six.

 

Yeh - based on some of the feedback on here I am too.

Haven't seen the fight and happy to hold my hands up - based on what I had seen of both guys beforehand I thought Ward lacked the physicality to keep Kessler at bay for 12 rounds.

Sounds like he went even further and actually worked Kessler over

 

Same Bute who got saved from a defeat by his own hometown judge? - a defeat from the guy Kessler beat the crap out of?

 

If he loses the dirty tricks - then I'll be looked forward too - if not then all I'll be looking forward to is some-one KO'ing him... Sorry but I just don't want to see that kind of crap - the last headbutt he didn't even try to through a push just threw his head right in - at a time in the fight where he was in total control ... that's bad style - very bad style.

When he was fighting cleanly it was a joy to watch!

 

It was clear that Ward fought dirty - he hit and held, and he charged with his head down, leading to these head-butts. However, he also outboxed Kessler - Kessler just coun't deal with Wards speed and counter-punching.

But we mustn't forget that Kessler looked very rusty, after having fought only scarcely 7 rounds in 17 months. Having seen a lot of Kessler fights, I can tell you that this wasn't the Kessler that fought Andrade, Mundine or Calzaghe. That's why I think that we shouldn't write him off just yet.

 

:good

 

Mikkel wasn't really inactive. He just had a lot of difficulties with the jab and speed of Ward. He looked a bit confused and unable to get set to rally off any kind of meaningful offense. The head butts did cause some issues but not enough to cause him to loose the fight.

 

Hope that helps.

 

How rusty was Mikkel after his recent inactivity? He certainly didn't look as sharp as he did against Calzaghe. He seemed to have some trouble pulling the trigger as well.

Did he underestimate Andre in any way? Big time. Commentators said he didn't even spar against any southpaws!!! That's a huge mistake, considering he fights southpaw about 1/3 of the time (and he probably fought southpaw even more than that this fight).

How was his general condition? Seemed to be fine.

Did the Headbutts,elbows, and low blows effect him in any way during the fight? Yes, but that wasn't why he lost the fight. There was one point in the 4th where he seemed to be getting a bit of momentum until he was butted, and butts caused his cuts, but he was losing handily before the rough tactics even started.

Did he have a Plan B,C,D? A little. He did change his style a bit in the second half of the fight and was more effective then, marginally. But Ward had more plans than did Kessler. He changed the way he was fighting 5 or 6 times during the fight, really keeping Kessler off balance.

Do you think he will be affected by this loss? Who knows. The cuts he suffered could become long-term problems and were in bad spots.

Do you think he can make the changes to his overall game? Doubt it, but he doesn't necessarily need to. He needs to get back to basics. He didn't utilize his jab nearly enough in this fight, and he was much more effective when he did so.

can he still win the super 6? Sure, depending on his draw. If he's not somewhat shot, I'd still favor him to beat Abraham, Taylor, Dirrell. Froch may give him some problems, oddly enough. When Ward got wild, Kessler seemed to have even bigger problems, and Froch can get just as rough and dirty as Ward fought.

 

Ward is a big , strong guy. He is also very fast. Kessler couldnt do anything to him. The butts came later in the fight and that just aided in Kessler's fustration.

He can still do some thing in this tourney , I think.