Mikkel Kessler, Carl Froch and Joe Calzaghe come from a standout era of super middleweights who ruled during the 2000s.
Calzaghe is arguably the best of them all having gone unbeaten throughout his 46-fight career. He is also the longest reigning 168lbs ruler in history, having held the WBO belt for more than a decade while making 20 defences.
Froch has had a hugely successful career that saw him beat the likes of Kessler, Jean Pascal, and Lucian Bute and ended his career with a pair of famous wins over George Groves, the second of which was at Wembley Stadium with over 80, 000 people there to see him knock Groves out cold with the final punch of his career.
Danish warrior Kessler – who lost to Calzaghe in a 2007 unification bout – won 46 of his 49 fights and became a unified world champion at 168lbs. His final fight was back down at super middleweight for a rematch with Froch after beating ‘The Cobra’ in 2010.
Ahead of that contest, he spoke to The Daily Mail and turned up the heat on Froch by claiming that he would have lost to his old nemesis Calzaghe.
“It is difficult to say who is best. Joe was not a puncher – he was fast but he was hitting with the inside of his glove but he got the points when they landed. He was mentally strong. He was in very good shape all the time.
“Carl is more of a fighter and throws lots of punches one after the other. He wants to trade punches. If Carl was in there throwing his big punches and his uppercuts then he would have hurt Joe. Who would win out of those two? I would think Calzaghe. Maybe.”
There is plenty of debate to this day about how a fight would have played out between Froch and Calzaghe, and why it didn’t happen, with promoter Frank Warren certain it would have been his charge the Welshman who would have come out on top.
