Super Six World Boxing Classic – Carl Froch Vs. Mikkel Kessler Play By Play
This is the second fight of Stage 2 of the Super Six and one in which Mikkel Kessler needs to win badly. If he loses, he goes 0-2 and probably has to play the spoiler role. And Froch can go 2-0 and put himself in fantastic shape to move on to the final four with a win.
Mikkel Kessler vs. Carl Froch
R1
Kessler’s pressing the fight and setting the pace. Froch is playing counter puncher. They were pretty active as there wasn’t much to feel out. They’re pretty much standing in front of each other.
R2
It was a jab fest. Not a lot of head movement for these guys. They’re jabbing and firing right hands. Hard round to score. They were mirrors of each other.
R3
Good round for Kessler. He was quicker to the punches and is now beating Froch to the punch.
R4
This is the first round I gave to Froch so far. It was close, but Froch had a little more swagger than he did early on. He was fighting with his hands down to goad Kessler into coming inside and was landing his jab. So far, I have it 2-1-1 for Kessler.
R5
Froch’s round all the way. He landed two big left hooks in the corner and landed a big right hand and then a shot that looked to send Kessler down to the canvas, but the referee called it a slip. They might’ve tangled feet like Dirrell/Abraham.
The slip was called correctly. It wasn’t a knockdown.
R6
Froch pretty much gave away the round. Kessler stayed composed and active and Froch was lazy in trying to make him look bad with his hands down defense. Kessler has a bit of a pep in his step and was way more active this round compared to last.
R7
Bernstein has Froch up 58-56 and I have Kessler up 58-57.
Kessler is the more active of the two again. He’s trying to be first and scoring first. Kesslery threw a big overhand right that landed to the back of Froch’s head, but Froch turned away from the punch. Kessler’s round again.
R8
Froch is the slicker of the two, but you get the feeling that he’s almost too slick tonight and it might be costing him the fight. Kessler buckled Froch with a short right hand. Looks like it caught him on the nose as it’s either very red or bleeding. Froch survived, but he was definitely stunned.
R9
Interesting round to score. Kessler definitely won the first part of the round, but Froch clearly won the second half, and probably more definitively. I have Kessler up 87-85 as we go into the final three rounds.
R10
Yet another super close round. Froch looked badly early on, but definitely picked it up near the end of the round. Kessler’s face is now showing signs of ware. I’m scoring it for Froch, by a hair.
R11
Really strong back and forth round. Froch started strong, Kessler came back, and both guys ended up slugging it out. I had it for Kessler by a hair. Going into the final round I have Kessler up 106-104.
R12
Kessler was the slicker of the two in the last round. He was landing and then getting out of dodge. They went toe-to-toe in the final minute. This is the best fight of the Super Six thus far. Kessler opened up a cut above Froch’s left eye. I’m not sure if I can even score this round cleanly. Froch ended the round well. I’d probably score it 10-10.
I have Kessler winning 116-114, but there were several close rounds. This was an excellent fight.
Winner: Mikkel Kessler by way of unanimous decision
The scores were 117-111, 115-113, and 116-112.
