MIKKEL KESSLER W12 CARL FROCH

Bothered and bewildered in his fight with Andre Ward last November, Mikkel Kessler showed that there is still plenty of fight left in him with his unanimous but very hard-earned points win over Carl Froch in their second-stage bout in the World Boxing Classic tournament.

Kessler captured the World Boxing Council super middleweight title while putting his career firmly back on track, while Froch lost with grit and dignity.

What impressed me most of all about Kessler was his desire for victory. He fought like a man who, on this night, would not let himself lose. He took some serious shots and came back, always keeping the pressure on Froch and forcing the British boxer to keep moving back. Froch had his good moments but one sensed that the overall flow of the fight was going in Kessler’s direction.

The crowd’s roaring support for Kessler probably played a part in the fight. When a boxer is going well and the adrenaline is pumping, I believe he can feed off the crowd’s energy and be lifted by it — if nothing is working, of course, crowd support won’t help very much.

Kessler didn’t seem quite as precise or technically excellent as in his fights with, say, Anthony Mundine and Librado Andrade, but he was fighting a winning fight. The idea was to keep Froch from getting settled and to keep the ship steaming straight ahead when the seas got stormy. It was a triumph of will as much as skill, with Kessler seeking to outfight, outgame and outpunch Froch in perhaps the most physical and intense fight that Denmark’s “Viking Warrior” has ever waged.

Froch was tough and dangerous, and his long-reaching jab was often a problem for Kessler. There were moments when Kessler seemed to have been hurt and wobbled, but he wouldn’t be denied. Kessler’s right hands to the body worked well and when he buckled Froch’s legs with a right hand in the eighth and let his hands fly it seemed as if he might be about to achieve an overwhelming advantage. Froch came back fiercely, though.

The last round was a classic, two proud, game men locked in a desperate struggle, giving and taking heavy blows, Kessler bloodied from a cut over the left eye but driving Froch to the ropes in a final assault. Mutual admiration was expressed when the final bell sounded. This was boxing the way it was meant to be.

I watched the version of the fight with the British commentary and agreed with John Rawling’s summation: “These two guys are going to remember each other for the rest of their lives.”

At the moment, away from base, my access to boxing coverage is sadly limited — some readers in Quebec, for instance, were disappointed that I did not review Lucien Bute’s superb KO win over Edison Miranda — but I was glad I got to see Kessler against Froch.

Bigger isn’t always better. Chris Arreola, the heavier man by more than 30 pounds, had what turned out to be a weight disadvantage as he was outboxed by the much more athletic Tomasz Adamek in HBO’s main event on Saturday night. Arreola trained at Big Bear and brought a strength and conditioning coach on board but at 250 pounds he looked like a blubbery plodder.

Adamek was faster, sharper and better. I wasn’t able to watch the fight under anything like ideal circumstances but from what I saw it appeared that Adamek was in command and landing almost at will. Arreola’s one hope was that Adamek would eventually stand right in front of him and trade punches, but it never looked like happening: the Polish boxer was too seasoned and too smart. I would have loved to have been able to view the fight properly, but from what I saw, I was impressed by Adamek, who proved he is a legitimate world title threat as a heavyweight.