Kessler isn't the same fighter he used to be

Kessler used to throw textbook straight punches right down the pipe. Now he's all over the place and seems much slower. Watch him against Calzaghe in 2007 and watch his fight with Froch. It's night and day.

 

I hope not. Kessler needs to add a greater variety of punches on top of the trademark one-two. It seemed to me that he was getting the left hook off more often. That's a positive. More head and sideway movement is also necessary for him to stay a winner. I didn't see much of that against Froch. I think we saw a greater than average punchload from Kessler and that is an improvement. His body work was paying off, so more of that will make him better. His accuracy was significantly worse than what we are used to.
Kessler definitely needs new weapons to be competitive against the types of Ward and Dirrell. Tactics alone won't do it IMO. In the danish newspapers Mikkel talks about how he works very focused on the things mentioned above. He is well aware of what he needs to change and what he needs to sharpen. So, No! Kessler is not the fighter he used to be.

 

Kessler has clearly regressed. Like Antonio Tarver mentioned last night, a few years ago he threw picture perfect 1,2s. Now his punches are wide and looping without nearly the speed or accuracy he possessed in the Calzaghe fight. Yesterday, Kessler would slip a Froch punch, see the opening, go for the counter and miss by a mile. He barely could find Froch with any consistency outside of the right hand to the body or the occasional jab and Froch was there to be hit all night. I remember how rusty Kessler looked early in the Perdomo fight, which I assumed was due to inactivity. But now..I'm not so sure. Kessler very well may be on his last legs.

 

Kessler looked like ass. It was a brave effort from Mikkel but Froch outboxed him despite the perceived speed advantage the former had. Any type of unconventional fighter will always give Kessler problems.

 

OMG! I actually agree for once. Kessler looked better against those gous 'cos they were smaller, and less skilled than Froch/Ward/Calzaghe

 

Err yeah a guy with a degree in sports science and a budding property empire is a pikey ****. **** right off and take your agenda with you, ****.

 

Yep.