Mundine V Kessler (spoiler)

[ashhh]

116-112, 117-113, 120-108 to kessler
UD

Apparently a closer fight than the score cards say.

[harls]

Saw the highlights on Sports Tonight, looked like Kessler was teeing of on Mundine most of the time. Great stuff!!!!

"One world, one Muay Thai"

[spoon]

It was an awesome fight.
Best i've seen from Mundine, he did really well and is well and truly up there at the top of the division.
The guy who scored it 108 - 120 was not watching this fight i tell ya!
Kessler's strong, a fierce puncher and comes accross as a nice guy. Good on him!

[humble]

I like choc as a person and an athlete. I think he is very lucky to be gifted with such great genetics. The fight started and I was blown away by the speed mundine was displaying. Seriously, whoever saw it would remember mundine slipping in jabs and hooks in the initial rounds that kessler would respond to only after mundine returned his hands to the guard. It made kessler a little hesitant although he still did well to probably marginally take those initial rounds.

As the fight moved to the 4th round kessler began imposing himself and adapted to mundines speed. Although I said I like choc, I began to really love kesslers style. No bull****, straight out tough guy who knows how to box and hits hard. Had it not been for mundines evasiveness and speed his shots that did land on mundine would of been cleaner and had more effect. There was at times shots that did land and mundine woulf taunt him into a brawl and kessler simply remained calm. Mundine could be seen saying "is that all you've got" trying to draw him in but i believe that he did this to cover the fact that he was a little rattled by his power despite the partial landings.

The fight stayed pretty much the same till the 12th with kessler imposing himself on mundine and a few times in each round mundine would explode and catch kessler with his speed. Mundines jab was excellent but like his other punches, they just seemed to lack anything behind them to do enough to kessler. It was as though he was concentrating so much on speed that he forgot to add some force behind it.

Anyways, mundine was also too tentative and didnt take the fight to kessler. Kessler chased mundine all night and cornered him and beat up on him like a bully. Mundine seemed to "run" as has become his tradmark in the last few fights and personally, after being one of his stubborn fans, I started to lose a little respect for him. There were the bursts here and there that made you think, why the hell doesnt he fight like this the whole time instead of trying to be too fast, or too evasive.

Kessler though, has one a new fan. I liked his style, no nonsense attitude and toughness. Hats off to both but especially kessler.



If the rulers knew how much peace a poor man had, they would fight them with swords to obtain it. - Imam Al Haddad

[supermario]

Kessler is one tough SOB I tell ya, but boy, did Mundine prove he doesn't have a glass chin. He did really well when he threw combos with purpose, he has the speed to give Kessler headaches, except he would throw a lightning fast jab, maybe two or three in succession at times... and not follow up with anything else! Damn, he wasn't going to win the fight with jabs alone! He proved he could land punches on the Dane, but he held back too much and was especially in trouble when he laid on the ropes and let Kessler tee off on him. Too defensive, he should've been the aggressor, he was the challenger, not Kessler. Hell of a fight though, the 116-112 and 117-113 scores are spot on, I had Kessler ahead by four points at the end of the fight too. The Dutch judge fell sleep, he gave Kessler every single round, and that's just BS. I have much, much more respect for Mundine's ability and durability, and I found out what a beast Kessler is. That record is fully legitimate. A rematch in Denmark would be great. I think Mundine could take out WBC champion Marcus Beyer, the dude that beat Danny Green. I'm not sure if he could take IBF champion Jeff Lacy though. Actually, Jeff Lacy vs Kessler would be an awesome matchup. Mundine's definitely right in the mix though, no doubt, and I agree with Barry Michael, he's only going to improve.

[J A]

I just watched it and I have to agree that Mundine is a much better fighter than I had previously given him credit for!
Also agree with humble that he needed to back up his jab.. He showed when he was prepared to that he could land some nice rights he just didnt throw enough of them! When he put some combinations together jhe looked really good!
Mundine also seemed to be alot more accurate with his punching. While Kessler threw alot of big shots most were landing on the gloves and as has been mentioned Chocs evasion was great!
But at the end of the day Kessler did enough to win! Well fought good entertaining fight!
Like I said I now have a lot more respect for Mundine!
Cheers
J.A.

[Voice]

yeah i saw it too, and agree much more respect and he looks to have gained some power and experience. Watched him at the Superdome when he won his title and thought an average fighter winning in an average division but that has all changed.

You can see how difficult it is for kickboxers to step into the boxing ring...all the body and head evasion that Mundine is great at, really saves you from receiving lots of punishment. Very tough to learn that after kickboxing career (Hurricane, point in note).

I guess the scales of opinion now firmly tilt to Mundine over Green, if anyone still cares.

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A man's gotta know his limitations...