Last Nights Action - What we make of it? *SPOILER

Main Event - Good win for Froch and he looked good in doing so despite a possible past his best Kessler. What we make of it? Live up to the build-up?

George Groves - Looked very, very good last night. Seems to be progressing quite well. I'd fancy him to comfortably beat James DeGale now. Seems to have made a few more steps since their first fight. Great knockout and his jab is developing to one of the best in the business - not just a range finder but he hits hard with it too.

Tony Bellew - He won but not a great fight, didn't seem to learn too much from the first fight. I don't know how much of that is down to Chilemba but world champions need to adapt and he doesn't seem to be able to. I still think he doesn't know if he's a counter puncher or attacking fighter and is stuck between two styles. Still a bit away from being able to challenge the top guys in my opinion.

Callum Smith - First round knockout. Possibly needs to up the level in his next fight and get tested a bit more. Developing well though and worth keeping an eye on him as one of the Britain's best prospects at the moment.

Groves looked a little wild but excellent in parts. He's turning it on now and a few more fights - perhaps a couple of toughies to see how far his power carries before stepping in with Kessler/Froch if the former doesnt retire.

Froch Kessler was everything we hoped for and I for one don't feel short changed given it was on PPV and finally Froch is getting the attention he deserves

Groves is developing nicely and is knocking on a world title and comfortably eats degale now. Very very quick with a lot of power, one punch power and his reflexes get him out of the way of shots. Doesn't take too many clean shots

Aye - who do you reckon he shuld take next? I'd like to see him in a 12 rounder fight to see if his tank last the distance at that pace.

Excellent main event, not a lot to be said, both men should be proud and i dont think there should be a 3rd, both men have one each.

Groves, yes he looked good but my worry is he has a David Haye style of fighting, can he keep up that pace at world level for a full 12 rounds? excellent win last night though

Bellew, not a fan, dont think he will ever get a world title, not good enough for the big boys in the divison

Smith, too early to tell, hope he doesnt end up like his other brothers, all of whom had potential but then lost it at British/Euro level

Main event was one of the best fights in the past few years in my eyes. I had it a draw. Literaly could not split them and had it 115-115. The rounds I scored even obviously went the way of froch. I think Froch should now push for Ward to come to the UK and fight in a rematch......and deservedly so. He holds two belts and is by far the bigger draw. Kessler should have a fight in Denmark to finish off his career. Both proved they are a class act inside and outside the ring.


Groves did what he had to do against a bum. Decent jab and good power.....how far he goes remains to be seen. Ill judge him when he fights a pulse. Good prospect though.


Bellew will NOT cut the top level. urine poor performance last night and again I had it like the first fight. Boring, unwatchable and just crap. Chilemba at times outboxed him. The bottom line here is that over their two fights, hsd chilemba had decent punch power, he would have knocked bellew out. Chad Dawson , Hopkins, Cleverly all blow him out.

Callum smith looked brilliant but again against a journeyman. Has all he tools to go far ill judge accordingly as his competition progresses much the same as groves.

Great Main Event, obviously. Groves was a nice KO for the fans and Bellew got the job done, nothing more to say on that.

Groves needs to step it up if he is serious about fighting Froch. Needs 12 rounder's against a top ten SM, if he wins that, then go for Froch next summer. Until the, he can't really call for it with any sort of justification, IMO

The fight atmosphere was amazing, really enjoyed it.

I was amazed at how much harder Kessler's punches appeared compared to Froch's, Kessler looked like he had dynamite in his fists. Kessler seemed to punch harder than anyone on the card, which gives massive props to Froch for standing up to them, some of the shots that landed were brutal.

Good win for Froch, I haven't seen the fight back and I was quite high up so I couldn't see if all the punches were landing clean on the target or missing. I also only had one angle, unlike the TV coverage.

First live fight I have seen and I would definitely go again.

Well done to Groves and Bellew as well, both got good wins.

Seems like the people who saw it live had it closer, or were more impressed with Kessler's work, than those of us who watched on tv.

Was reading another board and quite a few were calling a draw. Obviously Virgil Hunter's call of a draw has been well publicized. He reckoned to a trained eye Kessler's work was of a much higher quality.


A bit of trivia: the PPV in Denmark cost €55 and it had done over 100,000 buys a few days before the fight.

That's €6 million or more in the pot from Danish TV alone. The fighters and matchroom had a good night financially.

milkyboy wrote:Seems like the people who saw it live had it closer, or were more impressed with Kessler's work, than those of us who watched on tv.

Ill allude to this Milky, I said on strongys thread the day after the fight, many of the lads in the vicinity of my seats had it close as a draw and froch by 1 seemed the common consensus. I had it on rounds Froch by 2 however if you don't look at rounds you knew Carl was the winner but only just. Kessler was by far the superior puncher to me when he landed they looked frightenly solid, Froch seems oblivious to pain, a complete hardcase.

It was a cracking night and a good fight but I think the media are going a little over the top in terms of best British fight for a 15 years ect , as a fight it was good not great in my eyes.

Cheers Rodders

I reckon the first fight was better. It was slug fest from the start. I think Kessler has just lost a half step which meant he couldn't fight with the same intensity.

The press see Froch gaining popularity and are jumping on board.

Callum Smith defo needs a better test.

Rodney wrote:

milkyboy wrote:Seems like the people who saw it live had it closer, or were more impressed with Kessler's work, than those of us who watched on tv.

Ill allude to this Milky, I said on strongys thread the day after the fight, many of the lads in the vicinity of my seats had it close as a draw and froch by 1 seemed the common consensus. I had it on rounds Froch by 2 however if you don't look at rounds you knew Carl was the winner but only just. Kessler was by far the superior puncher to me when he landed they looked frightenly solid, Froch seems oblivious to pain, a complete hardcase.

It was a cracking night and a good fight but I think the media are going a little over the top in terms of best British fight for a 15 years ect , as a fight it was good not great in my eyes.

Cheers Rodders

I started off sober but was a little cooked by the end. Still, I had Froch 1 up going in to 12 so 2 up in the end. Great fight.

I stopped drinking at 10 Sean after they began to charge a fiver for a half in the arena and the fact i was slashing like a racehorse , every 15 mins

Cheers Rodders

I've seen it on TV now and I have it for Froch by 2 clear rounds, watching it live I had roughly the same score. A lot of people around me thought it was Froch's fight by 2 rounds.

Harold Lederman of HBO had it 117-111 to Froch, far too wide IMO

Where did you see it on BF88 mate ?

If you're allowed to say.

I've tried to look on you tube and various other sites but can't find a full tv version, I'm hoping ringside have it on on thurs.

Cheers Rodders

I watched on tv, rodders and had it froch by 3 ... 1 even... I think there were 3 or 4 rounds that werent clear cut, and and could see any score from 2-4 points being about a fair reflection. Anything out of that needed all the close rounds to go one way or another.

55 euros ppv in Denmark.... And I thought sky were ripping us off. Mind you 55 euros in Denmark gets you half a lager and a hotdog, so all is relative!

I think Jim Watt gave Froch the 11th, which I have no idea how he managed to do that.

Ward's commentary was so funny, he was bitter as hell about the whole thing.

davidemore wrote:Callum Smith defo needs a better test.

No need to rush him, the lad he was fighting was at the same stage of his career. Must remember that Smith is only 23, loads of time to really develop as a fighter.

Lampley said the atmosphere was louder and more intense in the O2 than it was for Martinez's homecoming in Argentina despit the crowd being a fraction of the size!

Had it 7 rounds to 5 in Carl's favour watching it live on PPV.

Think those that talk of Groves as a 'Haye' fighter are being quite unfair as his jab and counter-punching are vastly superior.

TopHat24/7 wrote:Lampley said the atmosphere was louder and more intense in the O2 than it was for Martinez's homecoming in Argentina despit the crowd being a fraction of the size!

Had it 7 rounds to 5 in Carl's favour watching it live on PPV.

Think those that talk of Groves as a 'Haye' fighter are being quite unfair as his jab and counter-punching are vastly superior.

I think that's the general consensus that its Froch by 2, a close but clear fight.

The atmosphere was amazing, I couldn't hear the entire arena a lot of the time because the block I was in was so loud, so I could only hear them lol.

The crowd managed to drown out the PA system, which is an impressive feat.

BoxingFan88 wrote:

TopHat24/7 wrote:Lampley said the atmosphere was louder and more intense in the O2 than it was for Martinez's homecoming in Argentina despit the crowd being a fraction of the size!

Had it 7 rounds to 5 in Carl's favour watching it live on PPV.

Think those that talk of Groves as a 'Haye' fighter are being quite unfair as his jab and counter-punching are vastly superior.

I think that's the general consensus that its Froch by 2, a close but clear fight.

The atmosphere was amazing, I couldn't hear the entire arena a lot of the time because the block I was in was so loud, so I could only hear them lol.

The crowd managed to drown out the PA system, which is an impressive feat.

That's true BF88, I couldn't hear Buffers "let's get ready to rumble" as it seemed everyone in the arena was belting it out, tremendous atmosphere, for an event the 02 has to be up there with some of the best arenas in the world, 18000 crammed in yet as silly as it sounds plenty of room yet so close to the action for almost everyone.

Cheers Rodders

Wonder what Buffer got for that night's work..........

That other muppet who usually does it...tries too hard to be like him.

Wouldn't like to hazard a guess Truss, he only called the main event aswell.

Mind when he counted Frochs entrance down, the whole arena went crazy, he certainly adds to the big fight atmosphere.

Cheers Rodders

He's definitely number 1............

Apparently he gets paid minimum $25,000 a night depending on the fight..

Rodney wrote:

BoxingFan88 wrote:

TopHat24/7 wrote:Lampley said the atmosphere was louder and more intense in the O2 than it was for Martinez's homecoming in Argentina despit the crowd being a fraction of the size!

Had it 7 rounds to 5 in Carl's favour watching it live on PPV.

Think those that talk of Groves as a 'Haye' fighter are being quite unfair as his jab and counter-punching are vastly superior.

I think that's the general consensus that its Froch by 2, a close but clear fight.

The atmosphere was amazing, I couldn't hear the entire arena a lot of the time because the block I was in was so loud, so I could only hear them lol.

The crowd managed to drown out the PA system, which is an impressive feat.

That's true BF88, I couldn't hear Buffers "let's get ready to rumble" as it seemed everyone in the arena was belting it out, tremendous atmosphere, for an event the 02 has to be up there with some of the best arenas in the world, 18000 crammed in yet as silly as it sounds plenty of room yet so close to the action for almost everyone.

Cheers Rodders

Haha yeah, the 'Let's get ready to rumble' was on my list of 10 things to do before I die, I just about heard it, the crowd said it with him, amazing!

As the fans we screwed up the countdown and the national anthem, miles out on the timing of both, pretty poor showing by us.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:He's definitely number 1............

Apparently he gets paid minimum $25,000 a night depending on the fight..

I'll take Buffer as an announcer over anybody, the best by far.

Jimmy Lennon Jr is good as well, just not as good..

It is money for old rope though. They got him to announce the pre fight press conference, so obviously wanted to get the maximum bang for their buck.

milkyboy wrote:It is money for old rope though. They got him to announce the pre fight press conference, so obviously wanted to get the maximum bang for their buck.

I wonder if he had a St Tropez for the fight and press conference? He was looking very bronzed. Always reminds me of Vince McMahon does Michael Buffer.