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| Date | 24 April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | MCH Arena, Herning, Mid-Jutland, Denmark | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBC super middleweight championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kessler defeated Froch via unanimous decision | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Carl Froch vs. Mikkel Kessler was a professional boxing match contested on 24 April 2010, for the WBC super middleweight championship. [1] The bout was the second match in the second group stage of the Super Six World Boxing Classic.
Froch defeated Andre Dirrell by split decision in his third WBC super-middleweight title defense which was a very controversial win with many believing Dirrell had won. Nevertheless, Froch got the win and the 2 points for his victory. [2] Meanwhile, WBA Champion Kessler was upset in his first Super Six match against Andre Ward who won via an 11th round technical decision.
In the buildup to the fight there were concerns that the Icelandic volcanic ash eruptions would cause the fight to be disrupted, but it went head as planned . [3]
In a closely fought contest where both men had great moments throughout the fight, Kessler took Froch's title and inflicted Froch's first professional defeat via unanimous decision, the judges scoring the contest by margins of 116–112, 115–113 and 117–111. The scoring was somewhat controversial, as some boxing announcers had scored the fight much closer, with some awarding Froch the win and others scoring it a draw. [4] [5] [6] Froch later stated that the fight was close and that he believes the decision would have gone his way if the event had been held in Nottingham. [7] [8] The fight was a contender for the 2010 Fight of the Year.
In August, Kessler announced he was withdrawing from the Super Six tournament due to the worsening of the eye injury he suffered during his earlier fight against Andre Ward, vacating the WBC belt in the progress. WBC, after initially announcing that it would grant the belt to the winner of the upcoming Group Stage 3 match between its number one contender Andre Dirrell and the WBA champion Ward, it was confirmed that the WBC would grant its championship to the winner of the scheduled match between Froch and Arthur Abraham, which Froch won to retain title. [9]
Froch and Kessler would fight a rematch in 2013, with Froch winning by unanimous decision in London. [10]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 Hungary | Sport 1 |
 Poland | Polsat |
 Romania | Sport.RO |
 Ukraine | Sport 1 |
 United Kingdom | Primetime |
 United States | Showtime |
Confirmed bouts: [11]
| Winner | Loser | Weight division/title belt(s) disputed | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-TV bouts | |||
 Koko Murat |  Nick Klappert | Super Welterweight (8 rounds) | Majority Decision. |
| Edmund Gerber |  Samir Kurtagic | Heavyweight (8 rounds) | Unanimous Decision. |
 Vinni Skovgaard |  Diane Schwachhofer | Welterweight (6 rounds) | Unanimous Decision. |
| Thomas Troelenberg |  Elio Cotena | Middleweight (6 rounds) | Split Decision. |
| Lukas Schulz | Viktor Szalai | Cruiserweight (6 rounds) | 3rd-round KO. |
| Patrick Nielsen | Norbert Szekeres | Middleweight (4 rounds) | 4th-round KO. |
Andre Michael Ward is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including unified super middleweight titles between 2009 and 2015, and unified light heavyweight titles between 2016 and 2017.
Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Mikkel Kessler is a Danish former professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2013. He held multiple super-middleweight world championships, including the World Boxing Association (WBA) title three times between 2004 and 2013, and the WBC title twice between 2006 and 2010.
Avetik Abrahamyan, best known as Arthur Abraham, is an Armenian-German former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the IBF middleweight title from 2005 to 2009, and the WBO super-middleweight title twice between 2012 and 2016.
Andre Dirrell is an American professional boxer.
Carl Martin Froch, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2014, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held multiple super-middleweight world championships, including the World Boxing Council (WBC) title twice between 2008 and 2011, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title from 2012 to 2015, and the World Boxing Association (WBA) title between 2013 and 2015. At regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth super-middleweight titles between 2004 and 2008, and won the Lonsdale Belt in 2006. As an amateur, in the middleweight division, Froch won a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships, and the ABA title twice.
James Frederick DeGale is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2019. He held the IBF super-middleweight title twice between 2015 and 2018, and regionally the European and British super-middleweight titles between 2010 and 2012.
George Groves is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2018. He held the WBA (Super) super-middleweight title from 2017 to 2018. At regional level, he held multiple super-middleweight titles, including the European, British, and Commonwealth titles between 2010 and 2014. As an amateur, Groves won the ABA middleweight title twice in 2007 and 2008.
The Super Six World Boxing Classic was a professional boxing tournament organized by the Showtime television network in co-operation with Sauerland Event. The tournament was held from 2009 to 2011, with all fights being contested in the super middleweight division. The winner of the tournament, Andre Ward, unified the WBA, WBC and The Ring Super Middleweight titles.
Boxing in the 2010s includes notable events about boxing which occurred between 2010 and 2019. The decade saw high intensity action in the welterweight division. The match between veterans Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao broke PPV records. The broadcast of the fight in the Philippines was watched by nearly half the country's households. Mayweather retired at a record 50-0-0 while Pacquiao became the first eight division champion. The middleweight division saw immense action in the later years of the decade. After a draw in 2017, Canelo Alvarez ended Gennady Golovkin's long reign in 2018. The heavyweight division was dominated by Klitschko brothers before Wladimir's loss to Tyson Fury in 2015. Other talents that emerged were Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksander Usyk.
Andre Ward vs. Arthur Abraham was a Super Middleweight championship fight for the WBA Middleweight championship. The bout was held on May 14, 2011, at Home Depot Center, in Carson, California and was televised on Showtime. In the co-featured non-televised portion of the card, heavyweight world contender Cristobal Arreola took on Nagy Aguilera of the Dominican Republic.
Carl Froch vs. Glen Johnson was a professional boxing match contested on June 4, 2011, for the WBC super middleweight championship. The winner of the bout went on to the Finals of the Super Six World Boxing Classic and face WBA Champion Andre Ward, after his decision win over Arthur Abraham in May 2011. It was held at Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States, and televised on Showtime.
Andre Ward vs. Carl Froch was the Super Six World Boxing Classic Final championship fight for the WBC, WBA, & vacant The Ring super middleweight titles. The bout was held on December 17, 2011, at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. and was televised on Showtime.
Mikkel Kessler vs. Andre Ward was a professional boxing match contested on 21 November 2009, for the WBA super middleweight championship. The bout was the final match in the first group stage of the Super Six World Boxing Classic, a tournament staged by Showtime to crown a unified world super middleweight champion and took place at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Brian Magee vs. Mikkel Kessler was a Super Middleweight boxing contest between the defending WBA (Regular) champion Brian Magee, and the number one challenger Mikkel Kessler. The fight was given the title "Hævnens Time" (danish: Time of revenge), because Kessler had to take revenge after Magee defeated two other Danes - Mads Larsen and Rudy Markussen.
Callum John Smith is an English professional boxer. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) and Ring magazine super-middleweight titles from 2018 to 2020. At regional level, he held the British and European super-middleweight titles between 2015 and 2017. In 2018 he won the World Boxing Super Series super-middleweight tournament, winning the Muhammad Ali trophy in the process. He is the youngest of the Smith brothers—Paul, Stephen, and Liam—all of whom are professional boxers.
Andre Ward vs. Edwin Rodríguez, billed as The Return, was a professional boxing match contested on November 16, 2013, for the WBA and The Ring super middleweight championship.
Carl Froch vs. George Groves, billed as the Battle of Britain, was a professional boxing match contested on 23 November 2013 at the Manchester Arena. Carl Froch, the defending unified World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-middleweight champion, defeated George Groves via technical knockout in the ninth round, although the ending was mired in controversy.
Carl Froch vs. Mikkel Kessler II, billed as Warrior's Call, was a professional boxing match between IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch and WBA (Regular) champion Mikkel Kessler. The fight took place on 25 May 2013 at The O2 Arena in London, England, United Kingdom. Froch was declared the winner by unanimous decision.