*ahem* The "I NEVER Was Impressed with Mikkel Kessler" Bandwagon...

i EXPECTED this knee jerk reaction. I just finished watching this and it is shocking. One to say, Kessler wasn't good is disrespectful to Ward. Ward was an unknown factor and he proved to be very good and much better than I thought.


That said, I don't want to take anything away from Ward, but for whatever reason Kessler was not himself in there and some of that had nothing to do with Ward. Ward can't punch at all and he hurt the normally decent chinned Kessler to the chin. He also threw 25% of the punches he normally did. He looked drained, listless and flat. That said, no excuses, I would pick Ward in a rematch.

Another thing is I felt Kessler was extremely disrespectful to Ward after the fight. I don't feel it was a dirty fight by Ward at all and I hope Kessler apologizes. It is one thing to say that right after the fight,but this morning Kessler should just acknowledge he got whipped.

 

REED, chill a lil bit brotha. I admit you were right, and the majority of us were wrong about Kess... but no need to start goin off on cats because of it.

 

He rarely is right. Much like Sly, he always picks Black and it worked this time. There was no logical reason to pick against Kessler. Ward has looked like complete shit until last night. Maybe Ward is one of those guys that needs to feel challenged before he puts it all together. It was without a doubt an unbelievable performance and one that no one could have predicted based on Ward's previous performances. I don't remember anyone predicting Ward was going to beat the Dogshit out of Kessler and make him look like a bum.

 

Ward had a fight plan...and Kessler seem to go in there "knowing" he would win....he looked unmotivated last nite..

Inside Kessler did NOTHING...NOTHING...and from the outside he could not deal w/ Ward speed and footwork.


Kessler vs. Froch...? I still gotta go w/ Kessler, but if he can't make Froch respect his punching power he won't be able to keep him off him, in the mid-late rounds...

 

No, REED is pretty accurate with picks most of the time. NONE of us are right all time, and the only one who's always wrong w/thier picks is Hex.::

I admitted from the jump that Ward posed a bigger threat to Kess than Froch did, but the one sided fashion in which Ward beat him was both surprising, and impressive. Still... I'm not a fan of Ward. He's a good fighter, and a good person... but I just dont like his style. Like I said before I'll be rooting for JT over him.... but Taylor has virtually no chance.

 

It's easy to look at their recent results and to draw this conclusion, but i think Jermain matches up alright vs Ward. It depends how much the last two losses have taken out of Jermain, but if he's in good shape, his own hand speed and decent power could trouble Ward. He's a live underdog in my eyes.

 

Kessler is the type of guy that can look excellent againt B class guy (Andrade, Lucas, Beyer), but as soon as he face an A class guy (Even if I begrudgingly consider Calzaghe an A guy) , he lacks the speed, the intelligence and the heart to beat them. Also, he has absolutely no head movement, wich cost him a lot in this fight. Not to mention the fact that he seem unable to fight out of his comfort zone.

Always tought he was overatted, but was surprised at how bad he looked

For those who watch mma , I think a paraalele can be drawn between him and Anthony JOhnson. But looked great against weaker opposition, but looked mostly inept againt higher caliber of guys

 

I like Ward after last night. You are a weird dude X. You have hatred for guys who aren't hate worthy at all. Ward's style was awesome last night.

 

i dunno, Kessler put up a good fight vs Calzaghe....last night was his only truly bad performance to date. I don't wanna take away from Ward, but Kessler looked well below par. Like i say, this is a tournament, and the beauty of it is the opportunity for redemption. Kessler really has to prove himself now.

 

What hand speed and what decent power?X was refering to Jermanin Taylor who is slow and powerless and now he has no ability to take a punch. Ward will carve him up.

 

Well I picked Ward to win this fight and the Tournament.. Just didn't expect him to Dominate Kessler like that... Guess REED was right in his opinion of not being impressed with Kessler because he got treated like a bum yesterday..

 

I dont "hate" Ward Ike, just not a fan. Theres a differance.

I HATE DLH, Margacheato, Juan Diaz, Nate Campbell, Josh Clottey, and the Klit sisters.

 

I think that he kind of gave up on himself in the calzaghe fight.

I agree that's was great with this tournament.

 

Jermain has good handspeed...sluggish foot speed, but he's got fast hands. Ward's got faster hands, but if he leaves himself open, Taylor is quick enough to capitalise. Taylor's power is decent...he floored Froch....he's got enough pop to down Ward too.

 

Yeah pretty much. Taylor's best asset has always been his handspeed, and Ward has better handspeed... so Taylor is pretty much fucked.

 

I agree totally. I have seen 10 or more Kessler fights and he has never, ever looked that sluggish. He was on the shelf for a long time and hasn't fought any one since the Calzaghe fight. Really, I don't want to sound like Kessler and make excuses, but he has never looked that sluggish, slow and passive and much of it had nothing to do with Ward.

 

Taylor's only chance would be to stop Ward, and Taylor hasnt stopped anyone since around the time Kerry ran against Bush.

I hope JT can pull it off though. Ive never liked Taylor, but he desreves one last big win I think. But he wont get it.

 

i think bending below kessler's waist, along with a good jab and clinching offset everything kessler was trying to do. completely threw him off of his rhythm, and being that kessler is so methodical it ruined his entire fightplan (the same one he has every fight)

ward fought like a veteran and schooled the slower and stiffer fighter. he would/will do the same to taylor. alot of ring savvy for someone with so few fights i was very impressed. reminded me of bhop-pavlik where someone just never got started in a fight where it seemed they would certainly win.

 

I don't think I remember a time in my life where I've seen a group of people that were this averse to simply admitting being wrong. Some of you guys seriously need to step out of your narcissistic world and get some perspective. When you are right about some trivial boxing prediction, some of you gloat, some of you rip the ones who were wrong, some of you even start massive threads about how great you were compared to others and their inferior intellects.

But then REED is right, picking against the vast majority correctly - and you guys all have your 1,000 reasons why somehow that doesn't count. Or how that's not the same as when you were right. Or how it doesn't matter because REED was wrong that other time. Or he was only right because he was racist. Good god.

Who cares what you think about why he was right? He was fucking right. Give him credit and move on. Fair is fair and I'm sure REED will take shit at an epic level the next time he is wrong, which he will be soon enough. I didn't make an official prediction, but I was picking Kessler by UD. So I will start group therapy for you all.

"I was wrong, and REED was right."

See? Was that so hard?

 

i agree, i just think people can get carried away with results...either good or bad. Ward is inexperienced at a level Taylor has mixed in for some time.

 

It was an emotional pick. There wasn't a logical reason to pick Ward. Ward was unknown and unproven. It was a guess without any analysis for it. So congrats Reed.Saying Kessler sucks says more about Reed's lack of knowledge and why no one should give him props for it. That was his analysis Kessler sucks.

 

somehow this argument enhances RJJs legacy

 

good post. I don't think Ward's borderline dirty tactics won him the fight, because he was superior in so many ways, but they can't be ignored. With another ref, on another night, he's not gonna be able to get away with that.

 

Experience is overrated. Ward just beat a better fighter than JT last night. Talent beats experience 9 times outta 10. Ward will own Taylor.

 

That's nonsense. Ward did not fight a dirty or an illegal fight. If Kessler can't deal wiht being held and hit, he should play soccer.

 

thanks, but i did not necessarily mean he was breaking the rules.

much like floyd mayweather, bernard hopkins, and john ruiz, ward bent the rules to his advantage. i would not say he was dirty per say, just clever.

 

Do you think Kessler looked 100%.

 

hard to say as after the first round he was clearly off his game. from rounds 2-11 he looked flat and just plain frustrated if you ask me.

but i think it was ward that made him look that way, considering that he was making every excuse after the fight, but never mentioned an injury or sickness.

 

He was taking liberties, it wasn't a dirty performance overall, but he was getting away with stuff

 

He looked awful for me and I thought the fight was over by round 2. Kessler just didn't have it, but that said I would pick Ward next time. After what I saw, I do't see Kessler being able to beat Ward even at full strength.