Yeah, body work is important. Kessler should have moved up to 175 after the loss to Calzaghe IMO, he looked at least a division bigger at the weigh-in, and on the night. He looked shot, well gone, against Green - a man who he'd have smacked around for five or six rounds and then put away in style three or four years ago. It's a good job Allan has a weak chin. I fancy Kessler by late stoppage, he works the body well, which Magee doesn't like much.
Kessler,like Froch,is pretty much unbeatable in his home backyard.If he doesn't get McGee the judges will.
Kessler will be scrappy again but he likes that straight right down the pipe against southpaws (Beyer, Calzaghe) and if he's got any of his old magic left he should land enough to slow Magee down and get him out of there. Magee will struggle to get close here I think (range issues), although Kessler can be unco-ordinated when rushed so if Magee does show some bottle he might make it interesting because he's tidy up close.
If Kessler loses that's probably it for him. I'd like Magee to win but not as much as I want to see Froch take Kessler on again...so let's go for Magee to lose on a bull**** decision.
Kessler 5 th round stoppage. A dominant performance through out contest... God bless Magee great servant for boxing..
i keep hearing kesslers shot , but im not really seeing it, i know his eyes bit dodgy and he got floored off green but to be fair he could put alotta people down when he lands clean...kessler responded well and he aint slowed down all that much...shot no....sliding...a little
Magee is a good fighter, Kessler maybe is not as good as he was. Should be a decent scrap, but it's in Denmark. If Magee gives it a good go, it's his last big chance probably then he has a decent opportunity. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that Kessler falls apart to a motivated, decent and in form opponent in the last chance saloon.
It's as clear as anything that Kessler's on the decline, and has been for a while. You could even trace it back to the Ward fight, although you could also look at it as Ward's coming out party. I happen to think a prime Kessler wouldn't have been anywhere near as badly beaten vs what was an inexperienced Ward at that point. He was actually outboxed for the most part vs.Froch and didn't look as fluent or concise at all as he had been previously. It was a lot closer fight than it ought to have been vs Froch (I actually had Carl winning) but if it wasn't for him being smart enough to switch tactics and go downstairs, I don't think he'd have got the decision even in Denmark. A close to prime Kessler vs that version of Froch, which I don't think is as good as now, wouldn't have had that many problems IMO. Bouadla showed us nothing as the Frenchman was effectively just acting as a punchbag but to be in trouble vs Green is a bad sign, as no other top fighter has ever looked remotely troubled by him. If you can't see that Mikkel is shot now, then either you haven't been watching him enough or just are oblivious to these things. His movement is slow and stodgy, his punches aren't as crisp (which for a fairly basic 1-2 fighter as he is, is worrying) and he's been getting hurt vs opponents that in his pomp he'd have demolished. Whether Magee can capitalise is another question but Mikkel is definitely not the same fighter as he was.
Magee has a reasonable chance... Not on points, unless he puts Kessler down from bodyshots in a few rounds, not gonna happen and not just because of the home advantage. Kessler is the crisper, more impressive puncher and both are upright kinda guys. But Kessler isn't that hard to find, especially now, and Magee's territory is when he can hustle you and land bodyshots. Magee doesn't really use the southpaw stance to his advantage so I don't expect any issues from that viewpoint, but what he is good at is boxing his way in sensibly (and covering up quite well) and hustling you up close with chopping shots. He needs to find Mikkel's body often, there could be a semi-weakness there. Magee also has a reasonably good chin, but Kessler has been going to the body more often himself so he has to be wary of that as I think he's susceptible there. Goes without saying he can't afford to be caught clean on the chin, but I think he has the durability to take a reasonable amount of Kessler's punches, within reason.