Notes from Froch vs. Kessler Post Fight Press Conference
– Kessler was very humble when asked about the fight. He put over Froch huge; complimenting his heart and resiliency. He then credited his team for coming up with the right strategy for this bout.
-Froch said he was disappointed with his performance, but felt that he might have won had it been in his home. He called Kessler a strong warrior.
-Froch said he would be back. Everyone in the press area were very supportive, and applauded him. I think he earned a lot of respect by the way he carried himself both in and out of the ring this week.
– Sauerland dubbed it the fight of the year, and said that it was proof that the Viking Warrior is back.
-Mick Hennessy mentioned that he had spoken with Arthur Abraham, and Arthur thought it was the best fight in the Super Six. Mick said it was a match of the year candidate, but that Carl didn’t fight his best on this particular night. He talked up a possible rematch.
– Sauerland had Mikkel winning by 3 or 4 rounds. He said that the reason Froch didn’t have his best day was because Kessler didn’t let him. He also alluded to a rematch saying that he hopes Carl will be at his best for it.
– Carl said that regardless of whether or not it happens in this tournament, the two will definitely be having that rematch.
– 9900 tickets were sold for the fight. They considered it a major success. They apparently did good business on the day of the show.
– Froch’s team said that the wide score cards were a disgrace and a huge problem in Boxing.
-Froch believes that he will grow and learn from this experience. He felt he nearly got Kessler out of there a few times, and then reiterated that the score cards were an absolute disgrace. He got loud cheers for saying it. He made it evident that he was not trying to take anything away from Mikkel’s victory.
-Mikkel felt that Carl will learn from this loss. He lost against Ward, but is now back and better than ever. He put over the Super Six for being full of surprises.
-Froch denied the possibility of the fight with Abraham being held in Germany. He said he would pull out of the tournament and the fight wouldn’t happen if they tried to force him to fight there. This was obviously the biggest news to come out of the conference, and there was a lot of commotion after it because most had felt that a German venue was a certainty. Team Sauerland played it down saying it had not been decided yet, but Froch and Hennessy were not willing to budge.
-Froch called the fight with Abraham a massive fight with no title on the line.
-Carl addressed the fact that he had an injured eardrum coming into this fight, and he felt that his balance was lacking at times due to it. He clarified that this was a legit injury, and he had contemplated pulling out of the fight because of it. He said that you can take a look at the medical reports if you don’t believe him. He said that this was not the reason he lost thought. He got beat because he didn’t go for the finish when he should have. He said he was never going to get the decision.
– Mikkel was asked who hits harder between Calzaghe and Froch. Carl hits way harder apparently. This was again greeted with huge cheers.
Round up
A rematch looks to be virtually guaranteed now. That’s something I completely support. In my opinion this was the best fight so far this year, and I could have seen arguments for it being scored by 2 rounds either way. It would be great to see them do it again in Froch’s home of Nottingham this time.
It looks like the talk of Froch leaving the Super Six has blown over. Theres a story on it on the Hennessy website *HERE* It seems the fight will now be contested on neutral grounds. I don’t want to see anyone else drop out so this is excellent new for the Super Six moving forward. Going from Boxing Kessler in Denmark to Abraham in Germany would have been an enormous ask of Froch. But that is just one of the headaches that goes hand in hand with a fight series of this magnitude. Somebody has to give up ground in negotiation. The Semifinal match ups in particular are going to be tough to reach a compromise on, especially with the league scoring being so even thus far.
