I think Kessler is well past his best now. Sorry

Kessler's 'new style' starting with Froch will get him into a lot of trouble with a good disciplined boxer. It plays well with the home crowd against the correct match up but that's about it. Kessler's new 'more active style' just isn't natural for him and he throws too many wide shots.

 

I thought Kessler was very noticeably past it for some years now. His last truly prime fight maybe was against Joe, and Kessler was said to have went into the fight with a bad hand. Calzaghe does not get enough credit for that win. That was a great fight.

Also, Mikkel has had a lot of injuries.

 

Prime Kessler knocks the **** out of sad Chad. Dawson was never, and will never be near Calzaghe's level.

 

It's too bad no one wanted to take on Kessler after the Calzaghe fight while he was still very close to prime. I remember him visiting the United States looking for big fights.

 

I agree. I think Kesslers main regret (if he has any) would be two wasted years after fighting Calzaghe. He had lost confidence, had problems with Team Palle, and (IMHO) seemed to live a bit more like a celebrity than before.

His fights up until the Ward fight were not really meaningful for someone like him in his prime, i.e. Sartison (ok to bounce back after a defeat), Danilo Haussler (extremely shot) and Perdomo (a nobody compared to Kessler).

 

Why knock the guy ?
Its obvious that Father Time,injuries and managerial/promotional issues have taken there toll on him,but last nights win was still impressive.

 

Do you think that Kessler is HOF worthy?

 

Kessler was slower than ever and quite rusty which is understandable. Perhaps the slowness (relative) was due to him wanting to maximize the power making him be more flatfooted than normal. That could be the case as it was evident that Kessler was hurting Green from the get-go. No doubt that Kessler wanted to impress and he produced a KO worthy of any highlight reel and a KO of the year candidate.

 

Good point. I feel the exact same way. I mean he lost a great fight to the greatest supermiddleweight ever, and then lost to Ward after numerous headbutts and illegal tricks. He definately desurves to be in the HOF more so than Sven Ottke or other supermiddleweights.

 

I agree to an extent. I think the best Kessler was actually before Calzaghe where he fought with an injured hand. Since that injury, he hasn't been able to get off the combinations like he used to. He may also have declined generally, but part of what you are seeing might be rust due to the fact that he doesn't spar much out of fear for hurting that hand further. Still, he's also added new things to his arsenal - body attack, better inside game, experience - he's still a top fighter around 168-175.