In a tremendous fight that likely leads the Fight of the Year race for 2010, Mikkel Kessler outpointed Carl Froch to take Froch's undefeated record and his WBC title, and get himself squarely back into the Super Six World Boxing Classic race.

Kessler (43-2, 32 KO) won on scores of 115-113, 116-112 and 117-111. Bad Left Hook scored it 115-113 for Kessler, with the "Viking Warrior" sealing the deal in an electric, Rocky-like 12th round effort from both men. It was Kessler who controlled most of the fight, pressed most of the action, and just did the better overall work. Froch had his moments, and won some rounds, and was close in some more, but he came up just short. Carl Froch has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, and immediately post-fight he didn't complain too much. He simply said if it was at home, he feels he would have won. (In a bit of hilarity, the in-ring interviewer basically said, "Yeah, we saw that in your last fight," and moved on.)

This is probably the biggest, best and most important win of Kessler's career. He looked relaxed in the ring, and even when a bad cut was opened late in the fight, he didn't panic or get out of his gameplan. Froch seemed a bit off in this one, truthfully, but that was probably more caused by Kessler not ever getting too flustered. Froch just did not get the openings he might have expected, and found himself in a dog fight with a guy who supposedly could be beaten mentally.

Froch (26-1, 20 KO) faces Arthur Abraham next, tentatively in August. Kessler's third Super Six fight will be against Allan Green, who fights Andre Ward on June 19. Froch-Abraham is shaping up to be a crazy war of a brawl, as both will have everything to gain and lose in that one. The updated Super Six standings have Abraham still ahead at 3 points (two fights), followed by Andre Ward (one fight), Andre Dirrell (two fights), Kessler (two fights) and Froch (two fights) at two points apiece. Green has no points. Can you imagine if Allan Green upset Andre Ward in June? This whole thing would be bananas.

Hats should be off this evening to Mikkel Kessler, who came back strong from a terrible loss to Ward and out-fought the always-game Froch, who gave his all as usual and can hold his head up high. It was a fantastic fight and a gritty display from both men.

Bad Left Hook will be here today with LIVE, round-by-round coverage, scoring and analysis of the Carl Froch-Mikkel Kessler clash from Denmark, the second fight of Stage Two of the Super Six World Boxing Classic.

Repeat: This is LIVE coverage, starting at 5pm EDT. This fight will not be aired in the United States until 9pm EDT tonight on Showtime. Showtime's airing is a tape-delayed broadcast. The comments of this post will contain LIVE coverage, which means if you enter, you're going to have the results of the show spoiled for you, if you are waiting for the Showtime broadcast. We will also have a results post immediately following the event, but you will also have to click through into the extended portion of that post to see the results, which will not be given away on the front page. We are doing our best to keep the site away from "spoilers" today, but we of course cannot guarantee anything. Any user who posts a "spoiler" in any thread, FanPost, or FanShot before the Showtime broadcast has concluded will be banned for at least one week.

CARL FROCH		MIKKEL KESSLER
	Main Event

Weekend Preview: Kessler vs Froch, Adamek vs Arreola & Angulo vs Julio (The Boxing Bulletin)
Michael Nelson of The Boxing Bulletin looks at Froch-Kessler, plus the HBO card.

Head to head: Froch-Kessler (The Ring)
Michael Rosenthal breaks down the matchup.

The Curious Case of Carl Froch (BBC)
BBC Sport journalist Ben Dirs wonders why Carl Froch hasn't become a bigger star in the UK: "A British world champion who's in the habit of serving up top-notch entertainment - what more do people want?"

Froch: I'll Quit if Danish Homers Rip Me Off (Mirror Sport)
Alternate universe headline: "Dirrell Quits After English Homers Rip Him Off." Froch sounds mildly not confident, which is really not like him.

Clever Carl can take the Mikk (Mirror Sport)
Barry McGuigan looks at the matchup, and concludes that "Kessler is on the slide," while "Froch is still on the rise."

Showtime Super Six saved my career says Carl Froch (Daily Post)
Carl Froch says the Super Six "rescued his career after the recession and withdrawal of television support threatened to leave him in the boxing wilderness." What a great line -- "the boxing wilderness."

Denmark's Mikkel Kessler faces Carl Froch at career crossroads (Sports Illustrated)
It can't be said enough: Mikkel Kessler really does have to win this fight or he's all but out of the Super Six running and his career is in a tough spot.

Is Kessler in the Super Six’s first must-win situation? (The Ring)
See? It can't be said enough.

Note: If you hate horns, don't watch this video.

Usually we do this in reverse, but the Bad Left Hook full fight preview went up on Wednesday. This fight is incredibly interesting to me because of the fact that it matches one guy (Froch) who has continued to win, often against the odds, and one (Kessler) who may well be nearing an early end of the line -- or, you know, perhaps not. I see neither man as a clear favorite, and like every other fight thus far in the Super Six, we'll learn something about each fighter.

We'll start with the defending WBC titleholder, Carl Froch.

Fight 1: Robin Reid (W-RTD-5 / November 11, 2007)

Reid is best known for having lost a disgusting decision to Sven Ottke, and a very debatable decision to Joe Calzaghe. At 36, Reid was being put into the position of gatekeeper for Froch, who had already won the British super middleweight belt. Robin had seen his best days go past him -- he'd come off a win over Jesse Brinkley, but before that had been pounded out by Jeff Lacy in seven rounds in August 2005. An impressive win over Reid, who was faded but not worthless or anything, would mean that perhaps Froch was ready to go beyond domestic level.

Reid didn't come in like a sack of bricks or anything, either. He came to win, to get his career moving higher, to win Froch's British belt. But the former Olympic bronze medalist was simply outgunned by the younger, hungrier, stronger Froch, who battered Reid for five rounds, leaving Reid to stay on his stool and concede victory to Froch. After the fight, Reid announced his retirement from boxing, and has not fought since.

Fight 2: Albert Rybacki (W-TKO-4 / May 10, 2008)

Froch made his Showtime debut with this one, which was meant to be a fight with Denis Inkin, another promising and unbeaten European super middleweight, but Inkin pulled out late, and was replaced by Rybacki. Rybacki was also unbeaten coming in (15-0), but was considered by nobody to be on the level of Froch or Inkin. This fight was paired with Junior Witter's upset loss to Timothy Bradley.

As expected, Froch had a pretty easy time with Rybacki. The Pole had turned pro in 2000, at the age of 29, and was simply nowhere near Froch's class. He was already 37 when they got into the ring, and had fought just 15 times in eight years, so clearly this wasn't the stiffest test for Froch. Rybacki has not fought since.

Fight 3: Jean Pascal (W-UD-12 / December 6, 2008)

A big jump in competition came when Froch took on Jean Pascal in Nottingham on December 6, 2008. The two battled for the WBC belt that Joe Calzaghe had vacated when he moved up to the light heavyweight division. It had been Froch's great desire to fight Calzaghe, something he made no secret, but instead he got Pascal.

Pascal at the time was somewhat loathed among boxing's diehards, I'd say. His arrogant style didn't win him a ton of fans, nor did the idea that he had ducked a fight with Edison Miranda. Earlier in 2008, ESPN2 had them co-headline a Friday Night Fights. That January evening, Pascal had gotten into some minor trouble against Omar Pittman, a fighter he figured to run through, while Miranda scored a great highlight-reel knockout of David Banks in the following bout. The idea at the time was to match the two of them in a bigger Friday Night Fights main event that summer. It didn't happen. Many blamed Pascal for that, but later in the year Pascal wound up in a big fight anyway. It has since come out that Pascal was struggling through the shoulder injury that put him on the shelf with surgery late last year.

This was a Fight of the Year contender, a wonderfully hard-hitting affair that featured two unbeaten guys who wanted to stake their claim in the super middleweight division. Pascal brought it and showed a lot more guts than most thought he had at the time. Froch was simply a bit better, and earned the unanimous decision win. After the fight, both men were elevated to a higher standing in the minds of most, it seemed. They'd come together with doubts about each man, and while they didn't leave being hailed as our next great stars or anything, they beatings they gave one another earned them each newfound respect from fans and media. Pascal has gone on to do very well in the light heavyweight division.

Fight 4: Jermain Taylor (W-TKO-12 / April 25, 2009)

For his first big American TV fight, Froch was matched with former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor. In November 2008, Taylor had finished off his HBO contract with a win over shot Jeff Lacy in Nashville. The fight wasn't given red carpet treatment by HBO or anyone else, and it was all but accepted that Taylor wouldn't be back with the network.

Taylor went to Showtime, and though his career had skidded around a little, he was a fairly big acquisition for the network, a former HBO golden child now just looking to fight. Having moved up to the super middleweight division officially with the Lacy fight, Taylor's good standing and name value (plus Showtime's backing) got him a major title shot in his next bout, and it was all a good enough package for Froch to fly over to Mashantucket, Connecticut, his first fight on American soil since a 2005 stoppage of Henry Porras in Hollywood.

In the early rounds, it looked like Jermain Taylor was rejuvenated and just too skilled for Froch. He put "The Cobra" on the canvas in round three, and looked for all the world to be en route to a dominant victory. But then, it happened -- Froch's relentless pressure and Taylor's inability to keep pace with the Englishman gradually wore Taylor out. Jermain's conditioning had been questioned before, and it was showing up again. By the 10th and 11th rounds, it was clear that Taylor was going to have to survive Froch more than anything.

In the 12th round, Froch and his corner knew they needed a knockout, and they went for it. The titlist came out to damage Taylor in that final round, and knocked him down in the final minute. Taylor sprawled out in the corner, gasping for air, looking desperate and beaten. There was still time on the clock when he came back to his feet, and Froch pounced again. With just 14 seconds remaining in the fight, referee Mike Ortega had no choice but to stop the fight. Had Taylor been able to hang on, he would have won the decision. He was up 106-102 on two cards, meaning at the very, very worst, he would have won two cards 113-112, and been awarded the split decision victory. (The third judge, Jack Woodburn, had Froch up 106-102.)

It was brought up in the preview post comments that you can see this more as Taylor losing than Froch winning. I see the point, but disagree with it. If it weren't for Froch's pressure and refusal to back off, Taylor would have won this fight. If it were some other guy who had less of a will to win than Froch, Taylor would have won this fight. Taylor didn't just get tired. Froch made him tired, and then when he was gassed completely, he finished the job. He was able to weather Taylor's storm, and then make Taylor pay for not being able to finish the fight. I'm not saying that's a skill in the way that good footwork is a skill, but it's something Froch showed he can do.

Fight 5: Andre Dirrell (W-SD-12 / October 17, 2009)

This fight has been discussed to death, and I really have no great desire to recount it now. It's not even all that interesting. I think Dirrell won, lots of people think Dirrell won, and lots of people think Froch won, too. It was a butt ugly fight between Dirrell, who did not come to fight, and Froch, who attempted to explain his inability to box with Dirrell as being some sort of non-manly flaw in Dirrell's psyche. This fight was the mass birth of the "positive/negative" garbage that has since populated so many boxing articles and has been a part of nearly every Sky Sports boxing broadcast since. I really do hate this fight. It was horrible to watch, neither of them were impressive, and then I got Check Hook's little brother, Positive/Negative. Thanks a lot, Froch-Dirrell.

Continue reading this post »

Usually we hold off until before the day before the fight, maybe two, but Saturday's Carl Froch-Mikkel Kessler fight is already stirring up a lot of conversation in various posts around the site, so why not just centralize it? This is a blog, not a periodical of note. Let's do it!

Again, a note: We are going to try to bring live, round-by-round coverage of this fight (and its live undercard) on Saturday afternoon, starting at 5pm EDT. This fight will be shown in the United States on tape delay at 9pm EDT on Showtime. If we are able to get live coverage in the afternoon, that means that for those waiting for the Showtime broadcast, there will be spoilers here, but only if you click through into the live thread and read the comments, or if you click through the results post that would follow after.

Those waiting for the Showtime airing on Saturday who don't want to be spoiled are advised to basically stay off all boxing sites until after the Showtime airing, because the results will just be posted in headlines most places. We should be safe for you here, but I cannot guarantee that either. Anyone who posts spoilers outside of the live thread and the results thread of the Froch-Kessler fight before the Showtime broadcast is finished airing will be banned for at least seven days.

Now then, on to the fight at hand.

Super Six World Boxing Classic, Stage Two: Carl Froch v. Mikkel Kessler

Both Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler faced quicker, younger, more athletic, more dynamic fighters in Stage One, when they were matched with Americans Andre Dirrell (Froch) and Andre Ward (Kessler).

Froch had home turf in Nottingham, and it helped him out. I don't want to say this with certainty, but it seemed the majority of fans felt Dirrell won the fight. I thought Dirrell won the fight. That's not to say that Froch didn't have his supporters, as well. Dirrell did run, did play dirty, and Froch played dirty, too. Overall, it was a pretty miserable viewing experience, but Froch left with the W.

Kessler was not so lucky. Traveling to Oakland to face Ward, Kessler found himself matched against a guy who didn't come right to him, who completely neutralized what Mikkel is good at, and who roughed the Dane up something fierce. There's no arguing that Ward got away with plenty of tactics that almost surely, Kessler would have been protected from fighting in Denmark with the usual referees who work his fights there.

We've seen this happen twice in the tournament now, in fact. In the recent Abraham-Dirrell fight, Abraham did his usual complaining about constant low blows, most of which were either his imagination or his desperation running wild. The referee in Detroit (Texas' Laurence Cole) did not give Abraham his usual safety net. I don't mean to call Abraham a fighter who's handled with kid gloves when he fights in Germany, but the action would have been stopped a lot more often, Dirrell probably would have lost a point eventually that he didn't really deserve to lose, and Arthur would have just gotten away with his act a little more. He's done it frequently in the past. In Detroit, it didn't happen for him.

Mikkel Kessler was battered by Andre Ward his last time out. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)

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In Oakland, Kessler's status as tournament co-favorite (with Abraham) came crashing down dramatically. He was left bruised, battered, bloodied, and widely defeated by a fighter who broke through into the upper echelon of one of boxing's best divisions, and raised a lot of doubts about Kessler in the process.

After the Kessler-Ward fight, I wrote a piece about the blueprint for beating Kessler having been drawn up by Ward and Joe Calzaghe. Even before that fight, I noted that Kessler (42-2, 32 KO), for as good as he is and as successful as he's been, did so on very basic stuff. Kessler is not a tricky fighter. He's not difficult to figure out. He has a powerful jab, a good right hand behind it, and he moves in a very fundamental way. Kessler doesn't make many true mistakes, but he's also not exceptionally strong anywhere but with his jab.

Before the fight, I said this about Kessler:

Kessler has been called "overrated" by a few people, but I don't see it. When you watch him fight, you can see where his record and his standing comes from. His jab is powerful, sharp and accurate, among the best in the sport. He isn't a tricky fighter by any means; in some ways he's like a superior Kelly Pavlik. Simple, basic, and extremely effective. He's tough to rattle, partially because to get at him, you're going to have to get past that nasty jab of his. In terms of overall "skills," Ward probably is the better man.

What Ward showed in that fight was exactly how you rattle Kessler. Rough him up. Late in the fight with Joe Calzaghe, Joe out-paced, out-fought, and out-thought Kessler. But when I was putting together the Kessler-Ward preview, I chalked that up to being more to do with Calzaghe being a terrific thinking fighter and Kessler just going that one step past his ability against Joe. Ward, for all his talent, had little by way of credible wins on his record before Kessler, and I was hesitant to assume he could do what Calzaghe did with Mikkel.

He didn't do what Calzaghe did with Mikkel, either, at least not directly. But he took him out of his gameplan, made him think. Mikkel Kessler doesn't operate on his toes well, doesn't adjust within a fight. Mikkel Kessler's "simple" style clearly went all around -- physically, he's strong and basic. Mentally, he had a Plan A and then nothing else.

I said this after the fight:

[A] few things are now clear about Mikkel Kessler.

• Speed kills. Specifically, it kills him.
• He doesn't deal well with being disrupted. Ward used some holding and got his head and elbows involved. It is what it is -- it's a part of the game, legal or not, and if a referee isn't calling it, you have to find a way to neutralize it. That may not seem fair, but what is?
• Again: He can't adjust. He's just shown no ability to change and turn the tide of a fight that isn't going his way.
• He doesn't like fighting inside. He's not good at it, isn't comfortable in close, and gets beaten up.

Carl Froch's confidence and heart could make a big difference on Saturday. (Photo by John Gichigi / Getty Images)

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So how does Carl Froch battle Kessler?

Froch (26-0, 20 KO) has quite an impressive run of victories going right now. In his last three fights, he's beaten Jean Pascal, who then moved up to win a title at 175 pounds and will now fight for the legitimate world light heavyweight championship in August against Chad Dawson; former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, in a dramatic comeback; and the disputed win over Dirrell, who then went out and put on a clinic against Arthur Abraham.

Carl Froch is never mentioned when people are talking about the world's best at super middleweight. They talk about Andre Ward and Lucian Bute, and some are starting to consider Andre Dirrell, too.

It's not that I don't understand why. When you watch Froch fight, it's just not that impressive. He's very strong, both with his punches and with what he can take. Taylor put him on the deck, but Froch responded very well, and he and Pascal went right to war when they met.

But he's slow, his defense is leaky, and he's really easy to hit. So to break down those four things about Kessler above, I can say that while speed kills Kessler, that shouldn't be a real concern for him on Saturday. Kessler is no speed merchant, but he's probably still quicker than Froch.

The leaky defense is good for Mikkel, too. Froch has been hit by basic 1-2s before. Froch got beaten up pretty well by Pascal, who admittedly is faster and wilder than Kessler, but Taylor hit him plenty, too, and Taylor by that point wasn't really utilizing his speed as much as he could have (or at least in theory could have), and spent too much of the fight trying to club Froch away, sort of "reducing" himself to being a Kessler-style fighter anyway.

But the other things, Froch can work with.

Froch can disrupt Kessler. He can't do it with speed, but he can do it by being willing to take shots to give shots. Against Calzaghe and Ward, Kessler talked about how both "spoil" his style. Froch can't do it the way Calzaghe did, but he can look at how Andre Ward was able to confuse and rattle Kessler and try to incorporate some of that. It's not strictly legal, no -- but Froch is probably going to want to get rough with him. Kessler handled it really poorly.

Now, again, this fight will be in Denmark. Montreal referee Michael Griffin has been assigned the bout. Griffin has done big fights before (Pascal-Diaconu II, Bradley-Holt, that Golota-Austin fight in China) and is an experienced guy. He's also worked in Europe plenty of times as a neutral referee, most recently for the Humberto Gutierrez-Vitali Tajbert fight last November.

Griffin, in Denmark, won't let Froch get away with as much as Ward got away with, but Froch is no stranger to dirty tactics when he needs them, and he'll be given some rope. What I'm saying is, I don't think he'll have to be convinced to get rough with Kessler. Honestly, if he doesn't initiate some of that stuff, I'll be surprised.

Will Kessler respond well? I have my doubts, to say the least. He's changed his corner for this fight, but he's 31 years old with 44 pro fights under his belt. He pretty much is what he is. There's not going to be much changing him, and it's certainly hard to change the way a fighter reacts to certain things. That's a mental process. That comes from somewhere that can't truly be tweaked in the gym.

As for the gameplanning stuff, I hope Kessler has a Plan B this time, because Froch is tough enough, good enough and, frankly, dumb enough to ruin whatever Plan A is unless Kessler knocks him out in the first half of the scheduled 12 rounds. If it comes down to it, Carl Froch will go in guns blazing and go for broke on Kessler. He's that kind of fighter.

Then there's fighting inside. To get inside, you have to do something that prevents Mikkel Kessler from unleashing his good jab, or you have to walk through it. I can see Froch doing either. Kessler seemed easily deterred against Ward. Froch, with his power and recklessness, has tools to make Mikkel Kessler hesitant in the ring. If Froch gets close to him, Kessler's in a world of trouble.

What I keep coming back to when I think about this fight is simple: I think Carl Froch, slow and hittable as he is, just has more to his game than does Mikkel Kessler. Kessler is a good fighter, but after years of injuries, he might be slowing down. As Brickhaus pointed out in another thread, Mikkel seemed a little off against Gusmyr Perdomo last year, too. It wasn't just the Ward fight. Perdomo he blasted through because he's a lot better than Perdomo. That was not the case with Ward, and I don't think it'll be the case with Froch, either.

If Kessler puts on one of the better performances of his career, he can out-box Carl Froch all night long, and he very well may do that. But I am fairly sure that the Ward disaster, while being a lot about how good Ward is, also had something to do with Mikkel Kessler and his limitations, both mentally and physically. Froch is a confident, even cocky fighter, and he comes to win every single fight. He is not deterred by the man across the ring out-boxing him, or fighting toe-to-toe with him. Mikkel Kessler has shown that he can be defused by the other man.

I love this fight because it's yet another tough bout for Froch, and it's a chance for Kessler to do something big. Beating Froch would, in my view, be the best win of Kessler's career. But I see him folding under Froch's pressure, when he can't get Froch away from him with the 1-2, when he can't keep him at bay, and when Froch just keeps piling up punches. Froch will get better as the fight goes along, Kessler will not. This is a huge crossroads for Kessler, who would be essentially out of the tournament running with a loss here. For Froch, it's another chance to keep winning and prove skeptics wrong again. Froch TKO-11

With a re-injured right knee that has given him a lot of problems in his young career, Andre Ward has been forced to postpone his scheduled April 24 fight with Allan Green, but feels he'll be ready by late May or early June.

The fight was to be paired with Carl Froch-Mikkel Kessler as a Super Six double-header. Froch-Kessler will still go ahead on that date, shown on tape delay in the United States by Showtime.

Ward (21-0, 13 KO) is coming off of a career-best win over Kessler in November. Green (29-1, 20 KO) has come into the tournament as a replacement for Jermain Taylor, who dropped out after suffering a bad knockout loss to Arthur Abraham in stage one.

The 26-year-old Ward injured his knee a few years ago playing basketball, and the injury is partly to blame for what many saw as a slow career progression that accelerated in 2009, when he was healthy all year. He's reached the top ranks of the super middleweight division now, winning his first major title from Kessler, and had opened a lot of eyes.

I've said in the past that of all the things that could undo Andre Ward's career early, the knee injury is definitely up there on the list. This doesn't sound serious, though, more like a minor tweak than anything. Ward says he tried to battle through the injury in training camp, but was advised by doctors to stay off the knee for a few weeks, so he will.

It's the latest setback for the Super Six, which has seen a bit of chaos going into stage two. Abraham-Andre Dirrell was first set for March 6, then pushed back to March 27 when Dirrell suffered a back injury. Froch and Kessler argued over the location of their fight (Froch wanted it in Copenhagen, but it will be in Herning, Denmark). Taylor pulled out, and was to be replaced by the winner of a Green-Sakio Bika fight, which didn't happen. Now with Green in and ready to go, Ward is injured. And the Froch-Kessler/Ward-Green double-header moved from April 17 to April 24 when HBO put together an April 17 double-header featuring Kelly Pavlik and Lucian Bute.

With the lull in boxing right now about to give way to an absolute storm of compelling fights, I thought it'd be a good time to focus on 10 of them that stick out. Not all will be great (or even good) fights, but they all have distinctly interesting storylines, and will help shape what's to come on boxing's biggest stages for the rest of 2010 and into 2011.

Well, except one of them, probably, and we'll lead off with that one.

Honorable Mentions: Andre Ward and Allan Green didn't make the cut, but I suppose that could be an interesting fight if the "good" Green shows up ... Ya like old folks? Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr. II is for you ... Andre Berto's proposed fight with Carlos Quintana has some spark ... Amir Khan and Paulie Malignaggi could be good, but I'd never watch that over any of the fights on this list ... Tavoris Cloud-Glen Johnson just barely missed the cut, and will almost surely be more enjoyable to watch than at least two of the fights that did ... Koki Kameda's first WBC flyweight title defense against Pongsaklek Wonjongkam will decide the new Ring Magazine world champion at 112 pounds.

10. Israel Vazquez v. Rafael Marquez IV (May 22, Showtime)

About three years ago, I tried to do my bit to help start the hype train for the first meeting between reigning junior featherweight world champion Israel Vazquez and reigning bantamweight world champion Rafael Marquez. I could envision nothing less than a great, knock-down, drag-out fight between the two talented and exciting Mexican warriors.

They surpassed my expectations in the first fight, upped the ante in their second bout, and in their third and supposedly final battle, they put on a classic for the ages. Every time out, their fights got better, culminating in a 12-round war (how could they go 12 rounds?) that saw Vazquez storm Marquez in the final frame to secure a razor-thin decision win, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. It was truly epic -- a word overused now (thanks, World of Warcraft), but perfect to describe the trilogy between these two men.

Like many, I had my doubts about a fourth fight. It seemed, in a way, to cheapen what they'd already done. Too much of a good thing. But with both men now campaigning at featherweight, they still offer one another the most money they can make.

It's a dangerous fight for both in so many ways. Not only that they might lose, but that it could be the last time we see either of them in the ring, or at least fighting on the top levels of the sport.

Vazquez, 32, and Marquez, 34, will forever be connected, boxing brothers in bloodshed and brutality. Like Gatti and Ward, Barrera and Morales, Ali and Frazier, and Zale and Graziano, you won't be able to mention one without quickly mentioning the other. The impact they've had on each others' careers and legacies is immeasurable. There is no Israel Vazquez as we know him without Rafael Marquez, and vice versa.

For all those reasons, I've come around and become quite excited for the fourth fight between the two. They deserve the money, the glory, and the chance to do what they wish with their careers. If their desire is to wage war one more time, then so be it. Bring it on.

Photo by Tom Casino/Showtime

9. David Haye v. John Ruiz (April 3, Sky Sports PPV)

David Haye won a paper heavyweight title from Nikolai Valuev last year in a dreadful fight that has been discussed far more than it really deserves. End of the day, Haye has the belt, Valuev and his team are now making outrageous demands for money with Vitali Klitschko's people, and old John Ruiz -- now with Golden Boy -- is in line for Britain's golden child heavyweight.

I've said from minute one that John Ruiz will be more of a danger to Haye than he's likely to get credit for being, and since he's still being given very little credit at all, I'll say it again. Ruiz is no superstar, but Haye's real (read: current) heavyweight experience is limited to the tremendously shot Monte Barrett and Valuev, who pretty much fights exactly the same no matter who he's against, because he's that limited.

Ruiz is better than Valuev, stands more of a chance at being able to cut off the ring and force Haye into a fight, and has been stopped all of one time in his career, against David Tua in 1996. We're talking 14 years ago, and we're also talking the first round knockout, and one that was exceptionally fluky-seeming. Not that Tua didn't have the power to turn anyone's lights out with a good shot, but 19 seconds? They could fight 100 times and that happens that one time.

I still figure Haye will win, whether or not he really deserves to. Ruiz's luck on scorecards isn't about to start changing at age 38, and Haye is a more dynamic fighter. But David's got the still-questionable chin, and Ruiz is a legit heavyweight who isn't a light puncher.

8. Manny Pacquiao v. Joshua Clottey (March 13, HBO PPV)

We're coming up fast on fight week for this one (though not fast enough by my watch), so I'll just put it like this for now, since we'll have a ton more when the week rolls around. Pacquiao-Clottey is compelling mostly because it has Manny Pacquiao. Clottey isn't exciting, isn't a big name, isn't a great fighter. He's solid, tough, very good, and it takes a lot of balls to fight him. This is a really good fight with the potential for a mega upset, and now that Antonio Margarito has been pulled from the undercard (thanks to that dastardly California commission, if you listen to Bob Arum), the anti-Margarito alliance can rest easy and order. Or choose not to order because the undercard isn't very good and there are too many PPVs again.

7. Arthur Abraham v. Andre Dirrell (March 6, Showtime)

Whatever you thought of the decision in Dirrell's fight with Carl Froch last year, it's hard to not admit that Dirrell showed a real aversion to mixing it up with a guy who can punch. Abraham is tremendous at exploiting weakness in his opponents and striking when the time is right, and his high-guard defensive tactics could shut down Dirrell's offense entirely.

On the other hand, if Dirrell learned to be more aggressive after the Froch fight, there's no doubt he's the quicker, more athletic guy in this fight. Using his movement and his hand speed, Dirrell could frustrate the stoic and generally non-aggressive Abraham and rack up a lot of rounds against the unbeaten Armenian, who has a habit of starting slowly. An Abraham win all but assures him of a spot in the semifinals of the tournament, no matter what happens with him in stage three. A win for Dirrell puts him right back in the tournament's running.

Photo by John Gichigi / Getty Images

6. Cristobal Arreola v. Tomasz Adamek (April 24, HBO)

Who's for real? Anyone? Arreola and Adamek are lining up to slug it out on HBO in a fight that will knock one guy out of immediate heavyweight contention, and the fight looks more interesting than ever right now.

Adamek had a bit of a conditioning scare late against Jason Estrada, running out of gas fighting at his heaviest-ever weight. If Estrada had Arreola's power, would we even be talking about this fight? Arreola can punch, and he can box a little. Adamek is a tough guy, but Arreola would be without question the heaviest hitter he's ever faced, and by a good margin at that. There's almost nothing to not like about this matchup on paper. It's about as close to a guaranteed exciting fight as you can get at heavyweight.

5. Chad Dawson v. Jean Pascal (July 17/24, HBO)

This was originally supposed to be set for June 19, but Pascal is coming off of shoulder surgery and his team says he won't be fit to go until late July. It's a good call by them, as there's no good reason to risk rushing Pascal into a fight against the top man in the light heavyweight division. Dawson is a tremendous boxer, but if you look at his sheet since he stepped up a bit in competition starting in 2006, there's nobody who has Pascal's skill set. Eric Harding, Adamek, Jesus Ruiz, Epi Mendoza, Glen Johnson (twice) and Antonio Tarver (twice) are just not the athletic specimens that Pascal is, and Pascal has proven his toughness and willingness to get hit in order to land. He's just a different animal than Adamek, Johnson or Tarver, who presented their own challenges, but nothing like what Pascal offers. Dawson may well cruise to victory, but if he does so it will be because he's that good. Pascal is about as good an opponent at 175 as Dawson is going to get right now.

4. Carl Froch v. Mikkel Kessler (April 24, Showtime)

Froch and Kessler have talked big leading up to this one, and that will probably just get more fiery as the fight draws near. Kessler fired his trainer after his embarrassingly one-sided loss to Andre Ward last November, while Froch has been dogged by questions of a hometown decision over Dirrell.

Kessler's two career losses have come against "spoilers," guys who Kessler himself described as spoiling his style and giving him fits. Joe Calzaghe and Ward bear little resemblance to the straight-forward, basic style that Froch employs. Kessler himself is about as mechanical and predictable as a top-level fighter gets, but when he's able to work behind his powerful jab, he is highly effective. Froch doesn't figure to give Kessler the headaches that Calzaghe and Ward did, so what is Froch's plan? If it's to use brute strength, I suppose there's a chance he can scare Kessler, but nobody has yet.

With Carl Froch, much as I like him, there is still that sense that he's almost living a fairytale, and that the clock has to strike midnight. It's either that or he's perennially overlooked and underappreciated. The Kessler fight will go a long way to figuring that out.

3. Yuri Foreman v. Miguel Cotto (June 5/12, PPV)

The talk of Miguel Cotto being damaged goods is overdone. He stood up to a barrage against Manny Pacquiao, withstanding two knockdowns and trying hopelessly to find a way back into the fight. Even his running seemed to be tactical in nature, as he kept looking for any way to land something on the Filipino that might slow him down. In the end, Pacquiao stopped him in the 12th when Kenny Bayless decided enough was enough, and rightfully so. But Miguel Cotto is no chump, and to be honest, Yuri Foreman is no dazzling sensation.

Foreman's best win was on that undercard against Daniel Santos, who was rather grossly out of shape, hadn't fought in a while, and hasn't been truly active in years now. Santos was once a very good and underrated fighter, but those days are gone. Yuri Foreman is as basic as a bread and water lunch, and doesn't like being hit. That's not a bad thing, but Cotto is probably going to hit him. What happens then?

As our own Matt Miller has said recently, I expect a quite ugly fight with this one, something that will have the NYC crowd booing the dreadful lack of action and amount of hugging going on. Foreman is pretty good, but on pure talent, not in Cotto's league. That said, size is going to matter, and Foreman is a bigger man. Cotto wasn't a big welterweight by any stretch, and he's going to be a tiny junior middleweight. If Cotto can't hurt Foreman or at least make him nervous, I'd expect to see a lot of Yuri jabbing his way around the ring and scoring points in a boring fight. Or Miguel might just rattle his cage early and go for the kill against a less-talented foe.

Photo by Ethan Miller / Getty Images

2. Kelly Pavlik v. Sergio Martinez (April 17, HBO)

Style-wise, Kelly Pavlik's only real challenge in his career has been Bernard Hopkins, the mental assassin who banged him around and dominated him more through willpower and smarts than physical strength, speed or agility. Martinez is a cutie southpaw who seemed tougher than previously imagined in December against Paul Williams, but Kelly Pavlik's biggest weapon -- the straight right hand -- is the southpaw killer, and Martinez has been there to get hit when he decides to get aggressive offensively. This is the first real challenge Pavlik has taken since the October '08 loss to Hopkins, and Martinez is a legitimate threat to the middleweight crown.

1. Shane Mosley v. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (May 1, HBO PPV)

What more can you say about this one? It's a mega-fight that we've been waiting on for a decade. Finally, these two will get it on and sort out what's what between them.

The Super Six World Boxing Classic double-header set for April 17 on Showtime could be moved back to April 24, says Rick Reeno.

The move is somewhat surprising, though totally understandable. With HBO making an April 17 double-header featuring Kelly Pavlik and Lucian Bute, plus HBO's availability in twice as many homes as Showtime, plus the fact that the biggest star on either card is still Kelly Pavlik, Showtime was in a bit of a spot.

Promoter Dan Goossen is unhappy about the whole thing since he has Cristobal Arreola going on April 24 on HBO, likely against Tomasz Adamek, but Showtime is playing tiny violins for the promoters given that Goossen also promotes Edison Miranda (fighting Bute) and Lou DiBella promotes Sergio Martinez (fighting Pavlik). DiBella also promotes Allan Green, who faces Andre Ward in the Super Six on whichever night it winds up being.

It's all a bit of a mess, really, and it seems like a case where really nobody could be made totally happy, whether they go head-to-head with HBO on the 17th or move it to the 24th. As a fan, I'd be thrilled if they'd move it to the 24th. The card mentioned here that I'm by far the least interested in is Arreola-Adamek, which is paired with Alfredo Angulo-Joel Julio. It's not that I have no interest in that card, especially the main event (should it go through), but Pavlik-Martinez and the Super Six trump it. Put it this way: I'd rather miss Arreola-Adamek live than I would Pavlik-Martinez or the Super Six show.

WBC super middleweight titlist Carl Froch is refusing to fight Mikkel Kessler in the Danish city of Herning, demanding instead that the bout be held in Copenhagen. The two are scheduled to meet on April 17.

Froch (26-0, 20 KO) won his first stage Super Six World Boxing Classic fight against Andre Dirrell via debated decision back in October. In November, Kessler (42-2, 32 KO) was manhandled by Andre Ward.

It's a pivotal fight for both, as Kessler badly needs the win not just to keep himself in the race in the Super Six, but it would also help him erase the doubts following him after such a lopsided loss to Ward. For Froch, it's a chance to take down another solid name and add to his impressive resume.

Froch insists that Herning is simply too far out of the way, and that he doesn't want to prevent his fans from being able to see the fight. Copenhagen is a tourist-type city, which Herning is not.

"It’s a strategic move on the part of Kessler’s promoters to get me to defend my title in the middle of an industrial estate in the middle of nowhere that no-one can get to."

Truthfully, I doubt it makes any real difference. Froch is well-known and everything, but he's never drawn a major house and I wouldn't guess his fans are going to travel exceptionally well. He's not Ricky Hatton or someone like that. If the Kessler side refuses to move the fight at Froch's demand, what happens then? Do the suits at Showtime get in the middle of it? This is not a format that can have these guys bickering and delaying fights.

BoxingScene.com reported today that after some speculation, the February 5 Shobox Super Six qualifier between Sakio Bika and Allan Green has fallen apart.

Raise your hand if you're 0.0006% surprised that a fight between Allan Green and Sakio Bika has failed to come about. Seriously. Raise your hand, and then comment about your shock. Someone out there has to be surprised. Someone out there has to really think, "Man, this guy in Creed has some great riffs."

Come on. Anybody? Come on! Don't be shy! Allan Green and Sakio Bika, guys who always get their fights made! As reliable as they come!

Anyway...

Word is now that Green will simply move forward and replace Jermain Taylor in the Super Six World Boxing Classic, facing Andre Ward on April 17. Green was supposedly always the alternate for the tournament, and his name came up when Gary Shaw (who promotes tournament participant Andre Dirrell) was hemming and hawing about something during footage from Showtime's documentary series about the tournament.

So after all of this, where we got the six fighters lined up, Green was rumored to be the alternate, Taylor pulls out, and then there's talk of an exciting fight between Green and Bika to decide who will get in, another shocker emerges: It'll just be Allan Green (DiBella fighter) in the tournament.

I have to sit down. I can't take this kind of surprise.