By Per Ake Persson

Former WBA and WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler tells Ekstrabladet that he's now officially retired. Kessler´s last fight was in May of 2013 when he lost the rematch to Carl Froch in London. He then took a long time to regroup but announced in May of last year he would fight again - but was only interested in the really big fights with no tuneups.

To get "the really big fights" proved however a big obstacle and while promoter Kalle Sauerland told media several times he was close to a deal - nothing ever materialized. Others speculated that the Viking Warrior was in fact retired but needed to keep his name warm to satisfy various sponsors.
 
Kessler does however leave the door open for another fight - IF the likes of Andre Ward or Carl froch should be interested.
 
Kessler, who turns 36 on March 1, goes out at 46-3-0.