A few months after redeeming himself by claiming the WBC Middlewight Championship from Carl Froch in a war of attrition, Danish Boxer Mikkel Kessler has exited Showtime’s Super-Six tournament citing eye injuries that will take him out of boxing completely for at least 9 months. According to his doctor, Gerhard Lang Kessler suffers from “a weakness of the superior oblique muscle of his left eye…To continue boxing, the muscle needs a proper rest, meaning no fighting or sparring for nine months.” This makes Kessler the second fighter to pull out of the tournament after Jermain Taylor suffered a concussion in the final round of his first round fight with Arthur Abraham.
Jermain Taylor was replaced by the unimpressive Allan Green, below are my picks for the most interesting options to replace Kessler:
1. Lucian Bute
The most glaring omission from the Super Six’s original line-up would make the most exciting addition in Kessler’s absence. Bute is exciting, talented and comes with a rapid hometown following. Unfortunately, the chances that Bute would join the tournament at this stage are slim to none. First, it’s universally acknowledged that Bute is the best Super-Middle not included in the tournament, and some argue he might be the best Super-Middleweight in the world. I personally believe that both Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell would beat Bute, but as long as he stays out of the tournament we will never know and he will be able to hold on to the mystique of an unbeaten record, while having an ironclad excuse for not fighting the best fighters in the division.
Assuming he keeps up his winning ways, as soon as the tournament is over, fans will clamour for the winner of the Super-Six to face Bute to crown the king at 168, and Bute would have the chance to be part of the biggest fight in the division without having to face at Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch, Andre Dirrell or Andre Ward on the way. In a sense, in the greater scheme of things Bute’s exclusion from the field gave him an automatic bye to a Ring Championship showdown which could make him the first lineal champion in the division since 2008 and part of the biggest money fight in the division since Joe Calzaghe’s retirement.
That’s assuming that Bute stays in the division. There are talks of him moving up to fight fellow Montrealite Montrealian Canadian Jean Pascale, in what would be one of the largest fights in that city’s history. Pascal just claimed the Ring’s Lightheavyweight Championship in a huge event in Montreal against Chad Dawson, and both fighter’s camps are eager to sign the two hometown stars against each other. That fight–which the rangy Bute would have a great chance at winning against the undersized Pascal–could also net Bute a Ring championship, a major payday and a torso-full of sanctioning body trinkets by the end of next Spring, without having to face the steep competition of the Super-Six.
All things considered, Bute is disappointingly the slimmest possibility in the race to replace Kessler. Which brings us to…
2. Kelly Pavlik
The former Undisputed Middleweight Champion has gone from one of boxing’s brightest young stars to a faded veteran in the span of 3 years. After claiming the crown from Jermain Taylor in 2007, Pavlik looked to become the force that Bernard Hopkins was in the division for so many years. However, a loss to B-Hop followed by a long bout of inactivity due to injuries and illness took him off of most fan’s radars before his uneventful return against unheralded contenders Marco Rubio and Miguel Espino. This April, a wooden and confused Pavlik was thoroughly thumped by Sergio Martinez, looking like a shadow of himself in the process. If Pavlik was weight-drained as some have speculated, the Super-Six might be a great entrance for Pavlik into the Super Middleweight division. Allan Green, Kessler’s planned opponent, is the softest touch available in the tournament, and a knockout of Green would place him in the running for a semi-final spot if he inherits the 2 points Kessler earned by beating Carl Froch in the second round of the tournament.
I would give Pavlik a good chance to get the better of Carl Froch and at the very least produce fireworks against Arthur Abraham. Given his difficulty handling slick boxers, I don’t know if he would fare very well at all against the tourney’s two Andres, Dirrell a Roy-Jones-like speedster with unnatural agility, defensive reflexes and handspeed and Ward, the tournament leader whose fluid, measured style spoils and neutralises his opponents advantages. Even though he would be an outside shot to win it all, entry into the Super Six would give Pavlik the ability to jump right into the Top 10 of a strong division and get some big fights. Even if he loses, as long as he is not blown out or embarassed, he could go a long way in salvaging what has been a damaged reputation of late.
3. Librado Andrade
Best known for his two losing efforts against Bute, Librado Andrade lives up to the reputation of the Mexican prizefighting tradition. He’s a hard-nosed brawler without much polish who always comes to fight. Despite his biggest fights being losses against Bute and Kessler, the fact that he is one of very few Mexican fighters at the higher weights continues to keep him in demand as a name opponent. While he may not be the most talented of the prospective replacements, Andrade brings two things to the table that could bring a great deal of excitement to the tournament.
First, there is a dirth of Latino fighters in the division, and adding Andrade to the mix of the Super-Six would add a new dimension to attract Hispanic fans–a major block of the boxing public. All of the first-round fights were billed as a battle between Europe and The United States, and the results of the subsequent fights were often reported through that lens, adding the exciting and affable Andrade, who is Mexican-born but California based, would add nuance to these stories. Andrade’s inclusion would simultaneously provide a broader picture of American boxing than Green, Ward and Dirrell–all African-American, all seasoned in the National Amateur system–provide, and also bring the type of ethnic conflict that promoters have thrived on since the 1920′s.
Secondly, Andrade always comes to fight, he would be a vulnerable underdog against the likes of Abraham and Ward, but he would be a live dog who would go down fighting, creating exciting moments on his way down. Despite his vaunted skills, Kessler is an easily discouraged fighter, and you could see his enthusiasm fading during his fights with Ward and Calzaghe. Similarly, Allan Green checked out of the Ward fight more or less after the first round, seemingly content to hold and resigned to lose a 12 round fight on his feet. Andrade’s resolve has never faltered during his 32 professional fights, and even in his lone knockout loss to Bute, he seemed to have the desire to fight on even though his ability to was sapped by a perfect body shot. Adding Andrade to the mix might not change the results of the Super-Six greatly, but he would at the very least provide an injection of excitement into a tournament that has produced some fine performances but only one real ring war in Kessler-Froch.
Honorable mention: Nobody
A fourth option would be to side step the idea of a replacement, and just narrow the field to the current top four fighters: Froch, Abraham, Ward and Dirrell. Despite his indignation at not being included in the original field, Allan Green was a complete disappointment in his first fight against Andre Ward. It’s very rare to see a fighter on his level lose every second of every minute of every round of a fight. Green’s inability to be competitive against Ward might lead to Showtime just cutting him and his promoter Lou DiBella a deal to exit the tournament at this stage, effectively turning the next round of fights into the Semi Finals, leading up to an accelerated Final between the two winners. Of course considering that the Super-Six as an event probably draws most of its revenue by building up its ad values as it moves toward the scheduled final, accelerating the process might not be an attractive option to Showtime, or the fighter’s respective promoters.
