Kessler - new style?

Yes. he did not move back in a straight line, he moved his head better but he was still caught by shots from weird angles.

Kessler is a boxer slugger, who can take out close rounds with spurts.

I also was REALLY impressed by his right hands to the body, would've loved to see him lead with the right hand a little over Frochs dangling left.

 

:good
The topic will get alot of haters tho.

 

No change at all, Kessler is on the slide unfortunately. I love Mikkels style but certain fighters will always have the antidote to it, especially speedsters like Ward, Dirrel, Bute etc, I know who i'd rather watch though.

 

I'd like to see a happy medium in the two styles. I liked Kessler being the aggressor but his timing and accuracy wasn't what it once was. I'm also glad to see Montoya and Kessler came in with a plan. I think it was one of the mid rounds were Kesslers foot work had Froch hitting nothing it's something I've never seen from Kessler before.

 

Loads of head movement and flurry's on the inside. I have never seen Kessler fight like that and Froch was foolish for fighting on the back foot for the whole fight.

After round 4 he should have been more aggressive and tried to boss the fight.

 

I thought he looked a little quicker and a little sharper last night than his last couple of fights.

 

For all of his aggression last night, it looked to me like Mikkel's starting to having trouble pulling the trigger. Maybe it's the after effects from his loss to Ward, or adjustment to Montoya or attributable to Froch, but otherwise it's the begining of the end for him -(Holyfield, DelaHoya, etc).
I still feel confident he'll stop Allan Green though.

 

I think alot of it's down to confidence. He was on top of the world then beaten for the first time by Calzaghe he spent the next two years beating three bums and legally battling Palle and then lost to Ward. I think having a new trainer and beating an undefeated Froch will have done wonders for his confidence. I'm looking forward to his next fight.

 

Agreed there is no doubt Kessler is on the decline. This was his last big win IMO and he will probably look **** in all his next fights.

 

:dead

 

Kessler looked as slow and sloppy as in the Ward fight. Only Froch isn't half the boxer Ward is and couldn't capitalize on it. Kessler has virtually no head movement, and doesn't even have the boxing sense to use lateral movement to avoid getting countered. Dirrell and Abraham will beat him.

 

Tarver was spot on about how Kessler's straight right isn't as straight anymore.

 

Having followed Kesslers entire career I think his performance last night was in some ways a mixed bag.

On the positive side, he was very determined and almost imposed his will on Froch. It is also clear, that Montoya has been working on Kesslers tactical skills. I was also happy to see, that he did not panic following the hard pressure in round 5. Instead, he manned up and took control of the fight. He also took more chances than he normally do.

On the negative side, it is clear that he is slower than before and he takes a lot of punches, even from a relatively slow fighter like Froch. His cuts are probably going to become ongoing problems for the rest of his career (which wont be more than a few fights anyway). Taking that many beatings will only accelerate his decline.

That being said, I am not certain that we have seen the last great victory from Kessler. I think Montoya might still be able to squeeze something out of warrior-Kessler rather than boxer-Kessler. But depends on the match-ups...