How good was Mikkel Kessler?

He would definitely give Canelo hell, not sure I could confidently pick a winner in that matchup (though I would lean toward Kessler); it would have been a great spectacle regardless.

 

Kessler was a fantastic fighter. He lost some big fights but also won some. The reason he wasn't true number 1 was because he came at a time when 2 of the greatest smws were active. Disregarding those 2, Kessler was quite possibly best of the rest.

 

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Very good. At one time he had the best 1-2 in all of boxing IMHO

 

Kessler was a great fighter he was solid in all areas. I loved his fight with my man Mundine I reckon Kessler helped improve Mundine as a fighter.

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He is the perfect example of a fighter who as a total package is definitively not great but the very level underneath. You can't come up with a good argument that he isn't very good, because he's an all-around pretty clearly class fighter.

 

He was very good but just shy of great. Excellent clean technique and laser like accuracy on his combination punches. Despite his pretty boy looks was tough as nails as well. In his prime he only lost to top tier fighters like Calzaghe and Ward in a foulfest stinker (f*** Ward). His loss to Froch was when he was past his best. I'd give him a good chance against anyone in his weight class in history, if not to win then to take them the distance in what will likely be a very hard fought contest.

 

Very good fighter but I always thought he lost to froch in their first fight.

 

I'd favor Kessler over today's Canelo for sure, against the 2020 version don't know. Would be a great fight because Kessler would not be daunted by Canelo's power and he would outwork him. Similar to Bivol although Kessler had more explosive punches.

Kessler always would have issues against guys who fought off-beat. That's why Calzaghe & Ward beat him. He would have struggled against 168 Hopkins, too, and Jones would have toyed with him. But other than that, he'd be the favorite or very close against anyone.

 

One of the top SMWs of all time.
3 time world champion
Won WBA and WBC titles
Beat -
3 x WBC champion Beyer
3 x SMW champion Froch
WBA regular champion Magee
Future WBA champion Sartison
2 x WBA champion Mundine
World rated former SMW champion Lucas
WBA champion Siaca
World rated Haussler
World rated Andrade
Former SMW champion Thobela

kessler was I think passed his best by the time he entered the Super 6 and was to my understanding suffering vision problems
I think prime Kessler could likely have won the Super 6

Arguably the best win on the resume of Froch and Ward even when at the end of his career

 

Always felt Kessler was Calzaghe's finest performance. He was a hard, hard man with all the tools and was at his peak. Lacey? Pfft..made for Joe...

 

As far as textbook boxing, Mikkel Kessler is the guy you'd want to show footage of to a day one gym rookie. (Wladimir Klitschko and Kelly Pavlik were bigger names and got more recognition as "masters of the 1-2" but his was arguably the best of that era).

He was very good - not merely good - in every area, maybe not great in any one. It was ill fortune that he shared an era with as talented and unorthodox a fighter as Calzaghe, who in his own words "spoiled all his boxing" (and even with that being the case, it was a lot closer than many care to remember).

A prime Kessler with healthy eyes would have defeated both Ward and Froch decisively IMO.

 

Agree on Froch but not Ward. As with Calzaghe, Ward would have spoiled Kessler's boxing which is exactly what he did. Kessler was an upright fighter of the more traditional European style (unlike Zags) and susceptible to guys changing range and angles against him.

I think he'd have struggled versus Ward at any time, and quite frankly that was before Ward hit his peak.