Around the Net: Mikkel Kessler Out of Super-Six

This will not go down as a vintage year for the beak busting business. Disappointment after disappointment has plagued the sport for much of 2010, and yet another punch to the gut was suffered yesterday with the news that Danish super-middleweight Mikkel Kessler had been forced to pull out of Showtime's Super-Six tournament due to eye trouble.  A tough break for boxing and a cruel blow for the Viking Warrior.

Let's take a look around the net to see how Kessler's absence might alter the rest of the tournament...

The Copenhagen Post - Kessler withdraws from Super Six

The Viking Warrior will not be able to fight or spar in the ring for nine months. However, his camp made it clear he was not retiring and that he was looking for a title shot next May against the Super Six champion.

Kessler, who took the podium following the doctor and his promoter Kalle Sauerland, said he was ‘devastated’ by the news.

‘I’m really sorry it’s got to be like this,’ he told Sporten.dk. ‘I always want to give my all, but I have to look at the bright side. I have a chance to meet the winner of the Super Six, so I’ll see you all again in nine months and hopefully everything will be fine again.’

Bad Left Hook - Showtime "not panicking" over loss of Kessler in Super Six

It's worth saying that the Super Six was bound to have things like this happen. The way the tournament is set up, and with the frequency of injuries in boxing, getting through it all without someone getting hurt was going to be near impossible. Eye injuries in boxing are nothing to mess around with, and Kessler can't be blamed for pulling out. It's no ploy, either -- how could it be? Kessler stood to make very good money for a fight he was heavily favored to win against Allan Green, and then he would have been into the elimination rounds, with a chance to win the whole thing and come out of the tournament as a major star.

The Cruelest Sport - A Dream Out of Reach: Mikkel Kessler & The Super Six

For Kessler, at 31, a fine career may now be in jeopardy. Although his doctor has stated that Kessler should be able to resume boxing with time, nothing seems certain at this point. What is certain, however, is that Kessler has always given his best in the ring, and that he has always been–between and beyond the ropes–a true sport. There are few fighters in boxing who still appear to labor under the burden of dreams, and Kessler is one of them. "This is the most disappointing moment of my boxing career," he said. Many will share his disappointment.

The Sweet Science - No Kessler May Be No Problem For Showtime

If a replacement were secured for Kessler at this point, what would be the point of it? He’d wind up fighting Green. Who wants to see that?

What you’ll see instead is that the two scheduled bouts will remain as they are, but instead of a mop-up exercise concluding the first round, they will now constitute the semifinals of a four-man tournament.

This, obviously, will require some accommodation on Showtime’s part, if not out of fairness to Green, then out of fairness to Lou DiBella, who has now been victimized twice – first by his act of conscience in pulling a damaged Jermain Taylor out of the original lineup, and now by the injury that has robbed Green of a payday. But paying DiBella a tidy sum – say, the quarter of a million or so he would have received had Kessler-Green proceeded on schedule – for consenting to abrogate an agreement signed by all the promoters back when this thing started – should be a small consideration in light of the momentum to be gained by repositioning the Super Six to achieve maximum drama.

ESPN - Mikkel Kessler pulling out of Super Six with eye injury

One possible scenario under discussion, according to two sources familiar with the situation, is that Group Stage 3, the last of the round-robin portion of the tournament, will be eliminated and the event will move directly to the semifinals.

That would mean that Ward's title defense against 2004 U.S. Olympic teammate and friend Andre Dirrell would be for a berth in the final, as would Froch's bout with Abraham.