By Sammy Rozenberg
The two top super middleweights in the sport, won their respective bouts to set up a potential winner takes all meeting.
WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (38-0, 29 KOS) showed his hometown fans in Copenhagen, Denmark, that he was not going to waste any time with Markus Beyer. It only took Kessler three rounds to dispose of Beyer and add the WBC's version of the super middleweight crown around his waist.
It was apparent from the start that Kessler was not only the stronger fighter, but the much better fighter. The jab of Kessler was on the mark in the first round, and his right hand began to find a home on Beyer's face in the second. Beyer tried to use his tricky southpaw style to counter, but was unable to land on the quicker Kessler.
In the third and final round, Kessler landed a perfect right hand to end the fight in dramatic fashion. Beyer went down, made it to his knees and looked over to his corner as the referee reached the full count of ten. Kessler made history with the win, becoming the only Dane to hold major world titles from two of the four major sanctioning bodies.
Immediately after the win, Kessler began to call out Calzaghe in post fight interviews, craving a unification meeting.
Not too far away in Manchester, England, WBO/IBF super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe (42-0, 31 KOs) overcame a game Sakio Bika (20-2-2, 13 KOs) to retain his titles by way of a twelve-round unanimous decision. The scores were 117-110, 117-110 and 116-111, all for Calzaghe.
Some experts felt the fight would be a mismatch on paper, but Sika came to fight with every single part of his body. Often rushing Calzaghe while using his head like a bulldozer behind wild swinging punches, he cut the champion above the left eye in fourth round and also gave him some unexpected trouble throughout the fight.
After losing a point in round five for coming in with his head, Bika continued to use any tactic possible to throw Calzaghe off - and it worked. Unlike his spectacular performance against Jeff Lacy in March, Calzaghe often fought Bika's fight and was lured into exchanges. Calzaghe also stayed away from using his jab on a consistent basis in the fight, which gave Bika plenty of opportunities to land his right hand.
Calzaghe was disappointed with his performance, even more so when taking into consideration that he was very focused on impressing the American audience watching his fight for the first time on cable giant HBO. He told reporters that was not 100% in the Bika fight, but did not elaborate on what was wrong.
"I'm disappointed with the performance," Calzaghe said. "I wanted to put on a spectacle but he was a dirty fighter and I got caught a lot with the head. I wasn't 100 percent tonight and it showed."
Like Kessler, Calzaghe made his intentions clear that he wanted a unification showdown with Mikkel Kessler.
Now that Calzaghe and Kessler own all of the major titles in the super middleweight divisions, a high stakes, mega-payday is inevitable.
Both fighters want the meeting, their promoters want the fight, but can all parties agree on the terms?
Calzaghe has stated in recent weeks that he is not willing to head over to Denmark to make the fight, and Kessler has also said that he wont come over to England. A neutral battlefield will the biggest issue, as well as which fighter receives the lion’s share of the purse split. Cazlaghe has a better case for getting more money and choosing the venue, but now that Kessler has obtained the remaining two belts that Calzaghe does not have, he brings a lot more negotiating leverage to the table.
Kessler is seen as the biggest threat to Calzaghe’s reign at super middleweight. Unlike Jeff Lacy, who proved to be a one-dimensional brawler against Calzaghe, Kessler is an above average boxer with a stiff jab and one-punch knockout power. Lacy was strong, but had to break opponents down with a voluminous punch output in order to knock them out. Kessler on the other hand can turn out the lights with a single punch, and also possesses a sturdy chin.
He will be one of the biggest fighters Calzaghe has gone up against at 168. Standing at 6’1, he is certainly bigger than the 5’9 Lacy.
Kessler is looking to return to the ring in either December or January, against an opponent to be announced. He would have liked for the opponent to be Calzaghe, which won’t happen as Calzaghe will need adequate time to heal the cut he suffered against Bika – among other aches and pains.
Calzaghe’s dream after beating Jeff Lacy, was to secure a major bout in the United States against an American opponent. He wanted to Roy Jones, Jr., Glen Johnson and Bernard Hopkins, but it now appears that the real major bout is his career lies with Mikkel Kessler.
