BoxRec

I don't hate this fight. They've made for two exciting fights before, and you could make the argument that both are shopworn so it's not like it's a complete mismatch, with Kessler being shot to bits and Carl coming off his best performance ever. Carl is coming off what will almost undoubtedly be the biggest fight of his career, but probably not his best performance. Best finish of his career yeah, and a very disciplined showing, but in terms of rounds it was a close fight up until that stoppage against Groves.

I didn't care about Manny Marquez 3 or 4 when they were announced, especially 4 which ended up being the most exciting of all of them. Sometimes you stick two guys in a ring and they'll just bring out the best in each other. I think these two are like that. Carl says he needs to be motivated for a fight, so if Kessler motivates him then it could well be a very good fight. It's not Chavez (which actually isn't that good a fight- we know pretty much Carl is going to give Chavez a hiding and then retire) Golovkin (which for all the talk on the boards is not happening- when have you ever heard Golovkin talk about Froch? He's not moving up. Middleweight is stacked full of 5'7" guys like Cotto and Canelo or 'name' walking corpses like Martinez and Taylor he can beat up on for the next year at least) or even Degale (who I personally think will give Carl fits and might even pull off the upset) but, if Froch says one or two more fights, then I think this is a decent first one of the two.

Then bow out with a Ward rematch, or Golovkin or Chavez. None of those fights are really available now. It's just Degale who's free. If he can't get up for it... He doesn't have to do it.

J wrote:Didnt Kessler push Froch close in his last fight?

Some of the assumption on her and comments such as shot to poo are based on what?

You are only as good as your last fight and he did better than Groves managed in either fight.

Amazing comments based on basically nothing.

I wouldn't consider it close, there was no controversy about the result, and Kessler has been out of the ring for nearly 17 months. To me there is little doubt that Froch would win again, even more handily now, and while the rematch was a solid fight I don't think it was so good that it justifies a third bout. Someone mentioned Pac-JMM, a series that I think many people started losing interest in when the third fight came around, but those bouts were much more evenly fought than Froch-Kessler II and I don't think either fighter looked as if they had regressed to the point that Kessler has.

On the last point, I believe there are reasonable grounds for thinking Kessler has significantly faded. For one thing, his injuries seemed to flare up over the last few years and I believe that's why he withdrew from the SS. After that he was dropped hard by an on the slide Allan Green when I don't believe anything similar had occurred previously, and then he clearly lost the Froch rematch after fairly winning the initial encounter. I thought Kessler's balance looked significantly regressed in second Froch bout, he didn't seem to have the same energy, and I don't believe this was mainly due to Froch improving. Factor in his inactivity--which would be approaching two years if they fought in January--and the punishment he endured in the Froch rematch, and I'd suspect that he's regressed further.

So for me, there is little appeal in another bout. They've fought twice before so I generally know how their styles will clash, the last fight was a clear win for Froch, I believe Kessler is obviously on a downward trajectory and has more signs of regression than Froch has, and I don't believe a third fight would be especially entertaining or competitive.