Kessler is a phenominal fighter. He has great speed and great accuracy. He punches in combinations and has a jab similar to Tommy Hearns. Kessler also has an excellent sense of distance and his ring generalship is world class. When Calzaghe calls it a career, I think Kessler will be the top guy at 168.
If Calzaghe wins against Kessler, then everyone, however grudgingly must revise their p4p lists. I think it's generally aknowledged that Kessler is a formidable, upper tier fighter, and if Calzaghe wins, which I am not sure that he will, then veryone can't go trashing Kessler like they did Lacy just to explain it away.
I'm not trying to trash anyone with this thread but I get the impression a lot of people are championing Kessler without having seen many of his fights. To me, Kessler is a massive unknown quantity. I saw the Beyer and Andrade fights on Youtube and have seen snippets of him against Mundine but it didn't answer too many questions. Obviously, his Danish fans have seen a lot of his fights and I respect (some of) their opinions, but I can't buy into the "you'll see on November 3rd just how good he is" theory based on what I've seen of him so far (albeit limited amounts). The one thing most people agree on is regarding his power. It's generally regarded that Kessler has more power than Calzaghe. To me, Kessler's power seems to come from his right hand after landing a good solid jab. History has shown us that Calzaghe is never troubled by the jab - nobody has ever been able to box their way in against Joe. The times that Calzaghe has been in trouble (against Eubank, Reid, Salem and Mitchell), he's been staggered or put down by booming lottery punches whilst he's been on the attack. There is the argument that Calzaghe has never faced a boxer as skilled as Kessler and this has good credit, but I've never seen Calzaghe even vaguely troubled by anyone trying to box their way in. To say that Kessler can achieve this with the pace he likes to fight mystifies me. What Kessler has got is enormous self belief, real confidence in himself and has displayed good solid boxing fundamentals without being spectacular. Maybe he can raise his game to yet higher levels - he will certainly need to if he's to be victorious in this fight. For me, he has to show things that he's not shown before: a willingness to take a few shots on the way in, good heart and ability to trade toe-to-toe are key for him. If he does have the edge in power, he'll have to be able to use it on the inside because Joe won't be there at the end of his fists on the outside. As I said, I have only seen limited amounts of Kessler and I'm not totally dismising his chances. Calzaghe is old and I don't think he's been in with someone as skilled as Kessler in a boxing sense. But to me, I don't think that will be enough because Joe is just as skillful and furthermore, has a proven chin. If Kessler can genuinely win this fight with Calzaghe somewhere near his best (which he will be provided the hands stay healthy and he's not shot) then he will be something quite special in my opinion. But, as I said, he has got to show a lot more nous than I've seen from him so far. Going back to Calzaghe's scares, forget the Eubank fight (Joe was caught late on after almost punching himself to a standstill early on - put it down to youth) and the Salem fight (messy divorce - mind not on the game). Calzaghe has only been in trouble twice that's worth pointing out when it comes to planning to beat him. Reid got to him. There was a history there and Joe hated Reid with a passion. Forget the broken hand, Calzaghe's mind wasn't totally on boxing that night, he just wanted to waste Reid and he lost the plot a bit. There's a bit of friendlyness between Calzaghe and Kessler so it's not going to affect November's fight. So that leaves Mitchell. Mitchell hit Joe with a right hand that would have KO'd even Andrade and any other SMW that night. It was the perfect punch. Kessler needs to get to that kind of range to be effective. Lacy's power worried Calzaghe, that's why he stayed away from it all night. It seems silly to say it but I think if Kessler lands a good powerful punch early on to get Joe's attention, Calzaghe will be happy to move on the outside, coming in and out to land his exceptionally fast slap/pitty pat punches on Kessler's gloves all night and win a comfortable UD. If Kessler has as much power and accuracy as some say, he can draw Calzaghe in by taking what Joe has to offer and BOOM - end it early. Kessler by KO/TKO is a lot more likely than Kessler on points. But in my opinion, still a lot less likely than a Calzaghe UD12. I don't want to get into trashing each others records, quality of opposition, amount of KOs vs TKOs etc etc... This is what I genuinely think. Please don't accuse me of being a blind Calzaghe nuthugger either. Your constructive comments however, are appreciated.:good
top level boxer-puncher IMO, when he was way ahead on points against Andrade and kept going for the finish he made a fan here.