Kessler turns down Dawson fight...

Dawson hasn't exactly got a iron chin himself now does he???

 

Although this is a bad move for the boxing fans Im pretty sure that it is an unusual wise business move (!) by team Palle.

There are two option for Kessler that HBO will be airing as well. These are Hopkins and Taylor/Lacy. If these fights fail then Winky Wright/Carl Froch/ Lucian Bute could be in consideration on showtime and THEN Dawson on HBO.

I guess in 2 years Kessler-Dawson is highly likely to happen if they both stay sharp and at the #1 spots in their divisions.

The Haussler fight was a disaster and the Miranda negotiating crap was bad management.

But have patience on this one. Things are getting hot at 168 :good

 

i like kessler but im dissappointed.. its probably a good choice BUT a good shot, life is about taking risks, and if he was risk taker he would take this :-(

LIFE GOES ON

 

Just a side remark regarding reward (as in $$$)... Kessler made more fighting Häussler than Dawson did fighting Tarver...

 

edit

 

:yep

 

edit

 

Probably. So why does Kessler keep begging Calzaghe for the rematch, then?

Kessler's resume is fine until last November. After that, however, and in his prime, he has done **** all. After chasing Tarver for 18 months, this year Dawson has victories over both Johnson and Tarver.

Taylor fought Pavlik and tomorrow night gets Lacy. Hopkins fought Calzaghe and Pavlik. And Calzaghe got his "legendary" victories over Hopkins and Jones.


If Kessler is desirable to HBO, and even if he isn't quite as marketable as Calzaghe or the Americans, there's no excuse for him taking on such weak opposition. He had Miranda all set, and now a Dawson fight might be a reality. Mikkel doesn't struggle to get fights.

I don't view Kessler as a Eurobum. That said, if he continues down the path he has traveled over the past 12 months, the "overprotected" charge will only stick further. A 30-year-old fighter can't afford to take a year off from meaningful competition. It's not like Kessler absorbed a savage hiding from Calzaghe.

Jeff Lacy took a massive beatdown from Joe, yet came back and fought Tyspko in his very next fight. See the difference? Taylor got KTFO and opted to rematch Pavlik in his next bout. Hopkins looked like ripe **** against Calzaghe but then fought Pavlik.

Losing doesn't mean you have to fight journeymen.

We'll just have to disagree on this. Without HBO stepping up and taking a huge risk -- getting burned in the end -- the fight doesn't happen. And if HBO had balked, there would have been no huge payday. Thank HBO, not Palle.

Since then, Palle has taken money out of a prime and popular fighter's pocket by matching him against worthless opponents. Turning down Miranda, and now rejecting HBO's pitch for Dawson.

It's all well and good if Kessler gets a big name on HBO in his next bout, but no more excuses.

 

How's the man in your avatar doing these days?

 

Sorry I made a mistake (thought the split was 75-25 - it was 60-40) ... hence Kessler got 700.000$ for the Häussler-fight ... Dawson got 800.000$ for the Tarver-fight.

But it does clearly show that the US TV-money aren't what the where - or that the EU TV-money are more than they where.

 

Kessler needs to stay at 168 IMO, at least for a couple more fights.

 

There's no question Palle/Kessler can follow the Ottke formula for making a ton of money without leaving home. And it's a dangerous sport, so if he chooses to do that, then fine.

But don't pretend to be ambitious if that's the case. I've heard Erdei talk about getting big fights in the past and also complaining about a lack of respect, and I just laugh. Erdei gets and deserves no respect.

What we're talking about here is Kessler getting paid *and* getting his just due as a PfP fighter. I believe he has the talent, but we'll never know if 2008 becomes the norm.

 

I'd rate Tsypko around the level of Sartison any day. As for Taylor rematching Pavlik tumbs up for that, but had Kessler had a rematchclause with Calzaghe you can bet your ass he would have used it.

As for Kessler calling for the rematch - he knows he isn't getting it and he isn't trying to mouth his way to a rematch ... I just think that deep down inside it's the fight he wants - he wants to redeem himself.

I think Sartison was a ok comeback-fight and Häussler - well he was mandatory so if Kessler wanted to keep his (with he does) he had to take the fight - he did - as the first fighter to stop Häussler and made a decent $ doing it - short break between the two fights and got out the fight without hurting his hands ... given the circumstanses it couldn't have gone better.

As for his next fight I agree it has to be a good opponent - Taylor is perfect - if he defends against Performo or the likes, then we'll be on the deroute path... but let's wait and see - during the next month we'll know a lot more about the possible opponents in SMW.

Taylor-Lacy
Froch-Pascal
Inkin-Balzsay

 

Fair enough. You definitely rate Sartison higher than me, but OK.

I do disagree that Froch or Inkin would be acceptable. Those are not proven guys -- they need to fight each other or some other B+ name -- and HBO would not be nearly as interested as they would in MK/JT or MK/CD.

To me, Kessler needs to fight the winner of Taylor/Lacy, Hopkins or Dawson. He's too big for Bute at this point, although that fight would be OK.

Hopefully, you understand that my frustration is a byproduct of my admiration for Kessler's talents. I just hate to see excellent fighters get wasted.

 

Next question:

What happens if Calzaghe retires, Dawson fights Hopkins and Taylor fights Wright?

If you're Kessler, do you seek out Bute?