On April 24th 2010, I traveled to Herning Denmark for the first Carl Froch vs Mikkel Kessler fight. It was phase two in the SuperSix World Boxing Classic, and if we’re being honest, the fight everybody most wanted to see from day one of the competition. Now, two of the pre-tournament favourites were both coming off rough opening round match ups: Kessler was defeated by the eventual overall winner Andre Ward in Oakland, while Froch struggled in a split decision win over Andre Dirrell at home. Both men needed a big performance in Herning to keep themselves amongst the top runners at 168 pounds.
The fight itself was everything we thought it might be and then some – amongst the most physically demanding contests I have ever seen. Kessler won the judges favour on the night taking a close decision. The conversation amongst press afterward centered on scoring, a possible rematch, and how either of these guys could recover in time for the next stage of the competition. Indeed, I myself feared that both men had just ruled themselves out, and I was half right. Kessler’s eye injury stopped him playing any further part in the boxing classic. Froch though, the SuperSix’s man of steel, was back in action before the year was over – this time trashing Arthur Abraham in Finland.
Froch vs Kessler 1 ended up being my 2010 fight of the year. That night from ringside I scored the bout 115-114 for Froch. With the London leg coming up this weekend, I’m taking a look back at that first encounter and re-scoring it; this time using the original UK PPV broadcast from Primetime. I have include my round by round breakdown and scorecard, as well as my original scores from the night and GG’s live scoring for Fight Game Blog of the Showtime airing. Three different angles on a SuperSix classic. This is the rewrite.
