Kessler against the LHWs

So do I and I think he's stylistically better suited to go up to 175 than Kessler which is why I asked.

 

I would absolutely favor Kessler against Shumenov and Cleverly.

The rest of the fights are a little tougher. I think Kessler might be able to beat Erdei as Erdei is older and doesn't move as much as he did when he was younger, but his handspeed could pose a lot of problems.

Campillo is a bit of an enigma, he clearly has a lot of talent, but how did he lose to Murat and Uzelkhov? He's gotten better lately, he's really light on his feet, quick, and can put punches together. Has a long reach. Lacks power badly. All in all I'd have to favor Campillo.

I think Kessler would have a LOT of problems with Pascal early. All that movement and quick explosions would give Kessler problems. If Kessler could keep up the workrate late in the fight he could pull out a decision but Pascal has a tendency in past fights to do enough late to take a couple of rounds. I'd favor Pascal.

Cloud would be another fun fan-friendly fight. I tend to think Cloud would back Kessler up(where Kessler is least comfortable) and I don't think Cloud is a guy you want to have Kessler's defensive flaws against. Another one of those fights where I'd favor Cloud, but could see Pascal winning.

And I'd favor Dawson and Hopkins to take wide decisions.

All in all, I'd absolutely favor Kessler against Shumenov and Cleverly. I'd favor Dawson and Hopkins against Kessler, clearly. The remaining fights are pretty interesting.

 

Thank you for the reply.

I don't neccessarily disagree with much of what you say. I don't suspect Froch's transition to LHW(should he ever decide to make that move) to be seamless. However, I do think he has better chance of succeeding at LHW than Kessler.

You bring up valid points/issues that Froch would have to answer if he went up to LHW, but I think many of the same issues can be said about Kessler.

-Froch is 34 (29 fights)right now, Kessler is 32 (46 fights).

-I don't find Froch particularly accurate, though he does have his moments. Even though it was a great fight Froch-Kessler both landed less than 20% of their punches. Against certain fighters they can both land at a better rate. I don't consider either to be a devastating power puncher. I've said in previous threads that I think Froch's power is overrated by some on ESB (there have been threads suggesting Froch would KO Johnson and Hopkins and someone said Froch punched harder than Cloud).

-To go along with your subjective opinion I always thought that if I had to tell someone what a SMW looks like, I would point to Kessler. He just seems cut out of stone at this weight where it seems like its the optimal weight for him for speed and strength.

-Froch defense isn't great at all (off topic, but its amazing how much better hes gotten at it though, watch the disaster that is his defense against Mcgee). However, neither is Kesslers and he too will be hit by LHWs should he move up (I think Kessler's bad habit of just standing at midrange after he's done working could spell disaster against a guy like Cloud).

Now, the additional worries that I have with Kessler that I don't neccessarily have with Froch are:

-With all the cuts lately, I have to wonder how the scar tissue will hold up.

-Along those same lines he's been significantly injured in recent years: hands, back, eyes which I would imagine are probably more signifant than Froch's tweaks.

-Stylistically, I think Froch holds up more competitively at LHW. In my opinion he has shown a better ability to adjust midfight and has shown better ability to fight going backwards (which would help against the naturally stronger LHW)

Just my extended 2 cents anyways.