Calzaghe vs Kessler: Anyone Excited?

dsimon writes:

I want to inject another possability, one that I figure is on Calzighe's mind and probably why he is willing to take this fight.

If it is close Calzighe will probably get the nod. Judges will not let him be dethroned in a close decision imo, it just won't happen.

Kessler has to win big. He has to really take it away from Joe which means showing that he hurt Joe, hitting him with a lot more punches and possably a knockdown, or at least one 10-8 round.

I think Kessler has to decide whether he wants to look good, or whether he wants to really win this fight, which will mean taking some risks and opening up on Joe.

 

Very excited! I've been looking forward to this one for a LONG time (before it was announced). This is THE fight at 168 and has been for years.

So many ways it could go - and guaranteed it will be action-packed with SO much on the line.......perfect recipe for a FOTY candidate.

Peace.

 

::

 

yeah i luv how joe acts like he's faced nothing but doubt his whole career because a lot of people picked lacy to beat him. maybe if he fought more actual threats he'd come to realize that par for the course for an elite fighter is to be involved in fights he's not necessarily expected to win.

 

Out of the big 4 this fall, Calz/Kessler and Floyd/Hatton are just far better and bigger on paper.

Cotto/Mosley just doesn't match up, particularly because of what you point out.

I wouldn't have even put Barrera/Pacquiao on the map, however.

Yet...current fightnews results show: [Most looked forward to]

Cotto/Mosley at 31%
Pacq/Barrera at 28%
Mayweather/Hatton at 28%
Calz/Kessler at 14%

In mY make believe world, it should look like:

Calz/Kessler at 50%
Mayweather/Hatton at 30%
Taylor/Pavlik at 15%
Cotto/Mosley at 5%

 

Joe/Mikkel- Smack talk continues...

Welsh wizard Joe Calzaghe is relishing the chance to capture two more belts when he faces unbeaten Mikkel Kessler of Denmark in Cardiff on 3 November.

Calzaghe, the WBO super-middleweight champion for the last 10 years, tests Kessler's 39-fight unbeaten record.

Victory would add the WBC and WBA belts to his WBO title and the IBF crown he won when beating Jeff Lacy in 2006.

"The best Joe Calzaghe beats anybody in the world and I am going to be at my best," the 35-year-old commented.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7062510.stm

Anyone else starting to think that maybe Joe is going to surprise us all again, ala Lacy?

MTF

 

Joe Calzaghe has responded angrily to taunts from the WBA and WBC world super-middleweight champion, Mikkel Kessler, ahead of their world title unification match at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on November 3 which had suggested the undefeated Welshman might resort to spoiling tactics in their eagerly awaited fight.

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/boxing/story/0,,2198387,00.html

In England at least, the build up is started to boil and boil...just me excited???? :)

MTF

 

I'm going to this fight, i can't wait!

My first real super-fight, in front on 60000+ people.

I'm picking, and backing Kessler. The odds will be unbelievably high is Cardiff on the night, for what is essentially an even fight going in.

The key for me is that Kessler has fought the best around super-middleweight in the last few years, and destroyed them, while Calzaghe hasn't been tested this decade.

The Lacy fight, which he deserves a heap of credit for, was in the end a walk in the park.

Kessler is going to make Joe fight, and fight hard. At his age, and coming off his recent bum tour, i doubt Joe can keep him off.

Kessler wins around round 7-8 after Calzaghes corner stops the fight.

 

I hope you're right. I'm rooting for Kessler, although Calzaghe is my official pick.

 

Calzaghe will make Kessler look slow and one demensional in comparison.Joe seems confident for this fight and I don't blame him.The result will be like Hopkins vs Wright except Joe has more in the tank than Hopkins.

 

very exciited, one of the best fight of the year, I think Kesller win, but if Joe wins, Ill consider him a great fighter.

 

I agree.
Kessler IMO moves and punches off of angles very similar to the great Ezzard Charles.
No, he is not in Charles' class, but he has a similar style to the Cobra.

 

I'm very excited! Kessler is gonna whup that ass!

 

Kessler is gonna get slapped to death.

 

I don't want to get too excited theres still time for Joes hand or back to get hurt. Anyways when the bell rings i will be very excited for this fight.

 

Like much of the media, Calzaghe is wondering where Kessler has been. He's been non-existent in the promotion, which has irritated Calzaghe and HBO.
"I just hope he shows up next week and takes his medicine like a man," Calzaghe said. "Every reporter who interviews me tells me the same thing -- they can't reach Kessler. Is he in training camp or a witness protection program? I expect Kessler to be elusive when we meet inside the ring, but what the hell is he hiding from now? Even a groundhog pops his head out of his burrow occasionally. He's boxing's version of 'Where's Waldo?' Poor Mikkel. On Nov. 3 he'll have nowhere to hide."

 

LOL,Calzaghe seems relaxed and confident and Kessler is MIA.If you can't promote the fight and train at the same time it tells me Kesslers confidence is under question.

 

I dont think Kessler's confidence is in question at all. Mikkel is a very confident fighter, he trully believes he's gonna beat Joe, and I believe so too. If Kessler loses, it'll be because Joe is a better fighter, not because Kessler lacked confidence.

 

I'd agree that he's not in Charles' class at this stage of their careers.

Charles was 34-4-1 after 39 fights. Kessler is 39-0. And it's not like Charles was fighting monsters, either.

 

Yeah, we mustn't be too afraid to claim that contemporary fighters are in the same league as those of yesteryear. Kessler seems to be a ver good fighter. The Calzaghe fight will tell us how good.

 

......

If anything Kessler is overconfident. I wouldn;t worry about his confidence level.

 

Something must be up with him(Kessler) :dunno: He should be more professional,this is the big time,he aint fighting in bush league anymore.

 

Roy's a good example of why sometimes its valid, sometimes it's reading too much into things.

Tarver III fight supports your claim.

Ruiz and Tarver I shits on it.

Bottom line: some fighters just aren't comfortable around the media (or in Roy's case, can't be bothered with it). It's Kessler's "promoter" (Team Palle) that deserves to be taken to task. They've kept him shielded his entire career, to the point where you have to blame them for his remaining an unknown quantity up until this year

 

dsimon writes:

Also, keep in mind that kessler has a close immediatte family... a wife and daughter.... he may well be protecting them from sensationalist media, from worrying about him, etc.

In Europe the media can be real pricks at times. Some people may not want their career to disrupt their family life.

 

I've read plenty of Kessler interviews. WTF is Joe talking about?

 

Yeah, but Charles fought Overlin in his 15th fight, Yarosz in his 18th, Overlin again in his 20th and Kid Tunero in his 22nd....then Charlie Burley back-to-back in his next two fights.

Sorry, but there's no comparison. Some of those guys WERE monsters, no doubt about it.

Overlin 2x, Yarosz, Tunero, Burley 2x, then Basora, Maxim 2x, Bivins, Marshall 2x, MOORE....

All before his 39th fight...in under 6 years....Charles having started at 19 years of age.

Those are ridiculous names to be taking on period...but especially so early.

Not to mention he then went on to fight at HWT against guys who were significantly bigger than him...and pretty much beat them all.

I've had much love for Kessler for a while now...but apples-to-apples, bro.

Peace.

 

I don't know much about Kessler, but I've liked what I've seen regarding how he handles himself inside and outside of the ring. he seemed like a true gentleman when he was on Friday Night Fights earlier this year.

He didn't come off like an arrogant asshole and was respectful of his future opponents (including Calzaghe). The fact that he's focused on his training and not talking crap doesn't mean anything to me.

Joe has made a career out of talking shit whether he's fighting nobodies (which constitutes 98% of his career) so I wouldn't expect anything different from him.

I'm very excited about this fight. This is #2 on my list for most anticipated fight (Mosley-Cotto is #1)

 

Kessler claims the shit about Calzaghe not showing up in Scandinavia to promote in that market, which he has agreed to do...


I doubt u can take Calzaghe's shit talk as a serious source here. :nono:

 

agREED on all of this. Rafael needs to cry into his Quizno's sandwich and super-sized drink, and leave the bullshit out of his columns. I agree that Kessler's promoter has a responsibility to help promote the event, and they are horrible to deal with. They've certainly kept him protected in regards to exposure, which helps explain why the guy's remained a mystery all of these years.

For what it's worth, though, Kessler should've been on last week's conference call. I don't know if he declined in advance, and that Warren and the PR team elected to leave out that part while shitting on him, or if he just passed on it altogether. But whatever the case, it's the first time I've heard of him snubbing the media. When he develops a history of it, then I can understand the level of hate.

 

hahahah. damn.

oh yea jake, you were right about big dan and his constant bitching about the alphabet soup. he recently wrote an article on how disgusted he was because showtime was calling tarver-green as a light heavyweight title bout.

technically, one could argue that hopkins vacated the crown when he announced his retirement and that tarver and muriqi fought for the vacant belt, which was actually the case.

him calling hopkins the light heavyweight champ is more inept since he's fought a total of 1 fight at 175 pounds.

what he should be disgusted about is his self image when he looks at himself in the mirror.