Mikkel Kessler: record, next fight and profile →
Mikkel Kessler has offered some words of wisdom for his protégé Abdul Kahttab (13-1, 3 KOs) ahead of the Danish middleweight’s ring return on March 19. Khattab takes on the Attila Koros (8-3-1, 6 KOs) at the Albertslund Musikteatret having got his promising career back on track with two unanimous points victories following his first career loss.
Mikkel "The Viking Warrior" Kessler confirmed his retirement in an interview with Euroman. Previously Kessler told members of the media he was retired, but left the door open for what he called a “megafight” in the form of a rematch with Andre Ward or a rubber match with Carl Froch. For a long while Danish media ran stories on how close this megafight was, but it all gradually dried out and now it´s all over.
IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale (21-1, 14KOs) is hungry to get a big name in his first defense of title he captured last month with a twelve round decision victory over Andre Dirrell in Boston. DeGale says an all-British showdown is possible with countryman Rocky Fielding, who returns in July and holds a high ranking in the IBF's top ten. The fight he would really like is a collision with the "Viking Warrior" Mikkel Kessler (46-3, 35KOs). Kessler has been inactive for over two years, since losing a twelve round decision to Carl Froch in their rematch.
IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale, 21-1 (14 KOs), looks set to make the first defence of his title in October, with some marquee names lined up as possible opponents. DeGale, 29, made history last month when he became the first British Olympic gold medallist to win a world title as a professional with a unanimous decision victory over - another Olympic medallist – Andre Dirrell in Boston.
Khattab (10-0, 3 KOs) reveals that Mikkel Kessler was anything but happy with his performance in Frederikshavn last month. Improvements are needed against Mikheil Khutsishvili (37-22, 18 KOs) at the Ballerup Super Arena on Saturday night, admits Khattab. "Mikkel was very happy with the first few rounds, but he was furious with me over my performance in the later rounds. He said bluntly that I was crap,” said Khattab who has been training alongside the former world champion.
Team Sauerland and Matchroom Boxing have agreed an historic TV rights deal to share their big fight nights. The fantastic deal for fight fans will see 12 World title fights in Germany broadcast live on Sky Sports and on the Matchroom Fight Pass, with their Nordic Fight Night series also shown on the Fight Pass, Matchroom’s 20 shows on Sky Sports can be broadcast by the ProSiebenSat.1 media group in Germany on either SAT.1 television or its online platforms ran.de and maxdome.de, with Juergen Brahmer’s WBA World Light Heavyweight title clash with Robin Krasniqi on March 21 in Rostock the first to be aired. In addition to the deal, Matchroom and Sauerland will also have the opportunity to place their fighters on international cards.
Former WBA and WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler confirmed an earlier story by Per Ake Persson on BoxingScene.com, by releasing a statement that he's indeed going to retire from boxing. Kessler´s last fight was in May of 2013 when he lost the rematch to Carl Froch in London. Kessler, who turns 36 on March 1, goes out at 46-3.
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.
A few days ago, former champion Lucian Bute (31-2, 24KOs) withdrew from a planned return on December 6th in Montreal. The Canadian star suffered a back injury during training. But his promoter, Jean Bédard of InterBox, revealed to RDS that he's been in discussions with Sauerland Event for a possible fight against Mikkel Kessler (46-3, 35KOs) in the spring of 2015. With Kessler fighting a division below, a catch-weight of 170-pounds was mentioned. Both fighters have been inactive. Kessler has not fought since last year's decision loss to Carl Froch, while Bute has not seen action since a decision loss to Jean Pascal in January.
Former world champion Mikkel Kessler is now telling Danish media that he´s tired of waiting for the big fights and is hinting at retirement. Kessler announced about six months ago that he wanted to resume his career, but he also made it very clear he was only interested in the really big names such as Andre Ward or Carl Froch. There has apparently been talks with the various parties but this far nothing has materialized.