Kessler - new style?

+1

His new trainer did nothing for him; it was the same old Kessler, but slower to pull the trigger.

I think Calzaghe broke his heart, he isn't as dedicated as he used to, and it clearly shows.

He could recapture some of his old form, but with another trainer.
Won't happen.

 

You didn't think he fought with determination last night?

 

Agreed.

 

:-(Did you watch the fight lad?

 

First of all Kessler looked much better against JC than he did against Ward. Kessler was never close to win against Ward.

When he fights smart guys like ward and Calzaghe they make him lose his rythm. Calzaghe with his huge punch output occasional holding to avoid the counter,
Ward with good movement, clinhing\holding and quick punches from different angles.

Froch isn't a guy who thinks alot in the ring it's not his force, so it's difficult to say how much Kessler has improved, but he used more head movement and knew how to keep his calm and didn't let Froch do his thing for most of the fight.
Every time Froch tried something Kessler either clinched or moved away with more or less succes.

Good body punches as well something that could work to his advantage in other fights.

Overall I'd say he tried some new things with average succes, and he can still improve on these with Montoya.

 

The only difference last night is that he was against a guy with bad footwork, handspeed and defense.

 

You guys underestimate how ugly Froch's style is... that is what made kessler look worse than anything. If he fought Andrade again last night he would have looked like God, even the Andrade he fought a few years ago.

 

I wouldn't say his actual style has changed but he fought a different fight than he normally does

Positives- He worked the body early and often. This is something he hasn't done in a long time, the past several fights(even the Andrade fight) were limited to upstairs. This was important against a well-conditioned fighter like Froch. He showed grit and determination...something I think was missing from his fight with Ward. He moved much better this fight(though still not as well as he's moved in the past) and he also surprisingly moved his head a little more.

Negatives- He still didn't do much of anything in the clinches that I saw(and I'm surprised Froch didn't either). His timing is not what it once was, that much is for sure...perhaps he's getting on the downside of his career(he's an older 30 now as he's been in some tough fights) but I'm not ready to write him off as that yet, though it's going to be hard to get his timing back against stiff competition. His 1-2 is nowhere near as sharp as it once was.

 

I did, and i thought he clearly won.

But if i compare this with pre Calzaghe performances, he's obviously slipped.
At 31 he should be in his prime years; it's not a physical thing.

I suspect Kessler is comfortable at the level he's currently in. He's lost the hunger to be the very best in the world, and His trainers don't know how to push him/ improve him. They are training him as if he was beginning in the sport.

Without ambition there's no improvement/adaptability to relative physical aging decline (moderate, but real); he needs to learn new things to compensate, and he clearly ain't doing that.

Kessler needs a trainer that challenges him.

 

Great post.

 

Keep the avatars coming.

 

Kessler had a lot more head movement going in this fight, and it was a huge factor, because it made him look like he was hunting Froch. Also kept Froch from jumping on him.

Kessler needs to work on the inside more. He did at times, but sometimes he just held on. He needs to get used to fighting in there.

Finally, Kessler needs to PUNCH when he has an angle. There were a bunch of times in the fight where he pivoted off of Froch or turned him. He could easily club him over the ear with a right or throw a left hook down the pipe (to the face or solar plexus). If Kessler would actually use the angles he creates, he's whoop serious amounts of asses.

 

Same style, just more aggressive than we've seen. That's a gameplan change not a style change.

The reasoning was that Froch is ineffective going backwards, and that largely proved to be true. Also Froch has really long arms so you don't want to get at the end of his reach all the time so he can get leverage in his swings.

Kessler was similarly aggressive against Mundine so its not totally new.