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From yesterday's (London) Times:
“I haven’t thought about life after boxing. My life is to November 4, nothing after that. This fight could change my life, everything.” Mikkel Kessler’s date with destiny arrives at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, shortly after midnight next Saturday when he becomes the latest man to attempt to end Joe Calzaghe’s reign as WBO super-middleweight champion, which has lasted more than a decade.
Kessler, though, is no ordinary challenger but the holder of the WBC and WBA titles. This is being billed as the biggest world title unification bout since Sugar Ray Leonard faced Thomas Hearns to unify the welterweight belts in 1981. The crowd is expected to be upwards of 60,000, paying up to £500 per ticket, threatening the all-time worldwide indoor attendance record held by Muhammad Ali’s second bout with Leon Spinks in 1978.
Both boxers are unbeaten, though Kessler, at 28, is seven years the younger. Calzaghe has swept away 20 challengers during his reign, most being overwhelmed by his sheer volume of punches, but Kessler is not planning to be No 21. “I studied him,” Kessler said. “Joe’s force is to come forward, throw a lot of punches, be fast and to spoil one’s boxing. That’s his plan. My plan’s a secret.”
Few boxers get to hide away in training camps any more. Television companies pay big bucks to get the rights to the contest and expect the boxers to help to sell it. Kessler attended press conferences in New York and Cardiff nearly two months ago but has since been invisible. Interview requests were denied and a conference call with the US media was ignored, much to the annoyance of HBO, the US cable giant, that had initially balked at the idea of helping to finance a bout between two European boxers. One US website even mocked up a milk carton, with an image of Kessler as a missing child on the side.
This week, Calzaghe was again ****ing the promotional drum alone, this time for Setanta, the subscription channel, which will screen the bout live in Britain. Some rumours suggest the lack of cooperation from the Danish camp is because Calzaghe refused to go to Denmark for a press conference. Kessler seems oblivious to it all.
Absence from the media spotlight creates gossip. Listen long enough to some people and Kessler’s presence in Wales next weekend is in doubt. Some suggest he has not sparred, some suggest he has barely trained. From my first meeting with Kessler, as he is being stretched by his physiotherapist, the latter is easy to dispel. Kessler looks in excellent shape. He also seems relaxed and certainly excited at the prospect of the bout.
For two months, home has been a flat in a converted silo overlooking Copenhagen’s former harbour in Islands Brygge. Once home to a huge chemical works, the area houses the modern apartments of Copenhagen’s mega-rich. Since the start of the year, Kessler’s home has been in Monte Carlo, the bitterly cold weather being a main reason why he left his homeland.
“I had a lot of injuries and the heat is a lot better,” he said. “I had two operations here and here [pointing to the metacarpals in each hand] and then I had an operation on my elbow.
“I thought when I decided to move there I would be hanging out with all the big stars, but no. I just hang out with my friends. There’s a great boxing club at the stadium. There’s a beach where I run and go swimming.”
When Sweden and Norway banned professional boxing in the Seventies and Eighties [the ban has been repealed in Sweden], Copenhagen became the centre of the sport in Scandinavia. On boxing weekends, hundreds would flock over Oresund Bridge from Sweden to see the likes of Steffen Tangstad, Anders Eklund, Ayub Kalule and, in the Nineties, Brian Nielsen, Kessler’s first hero, who boxed Mike Tyson here.
Kessler, who celebrates his heritage with a huge tattoo of a Viking warrior that covers half his torso, is the finest boxer in Scandinavia’s history. However, he will enter the ring in Cardiff with a Union Flag on his shorts next to the Danish one. The Danish hero is half British.
Kessler’s mother, Ann, hails from Salisbury, Wiltshire. He has a half-brother, Mark, who lives in Lincolnshire. “He was older than me and was raised by my grandparents,” Kessler said. “I always knew he existed but it was only three years ago that we met. He will be there in Cardiff. He’s a real biker with a big beard and lots of piercings – he’s a really great guy.”
But few in the huge crowd will be backing Kessler. “It’s going to be an experience,” he said. “I fought in Australia – there were 15,000 people booing me. I used it and thought, ‘I’ll show them’. I’m not nervous; maybe I will be on the day of the weigh-in. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“I haven’t thought about life after boxing. My life is to November 4, nothing after that. This fight could change my life, everything.” Mikkel Kessler’s date with destiny arrives at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, shortly after midnight next Saturday when he becomes the latest man to attempt to end Joe Calzaghe’s reign as WBO super-middleweight champion, which has lasted more than a decade.
Kessler, though, is no ordinary challenger but the holder of the WBC and WBA titles. This is being billed as the biggest world title unification bout since Sugar Ray Leonard faced Thomas Hearns to unify the welterweight belts in 1981. The crowd is expected to be upwards of 60,000, paying up to £500 per ticket, threatening the all-time worldwide indoor attendance record held by Muhammad Ali’s second bout with Leon Spinks in 1978.
Both boxers are unbeaten, though Kessler, at 28, is seven years the younger. Calzaghe has swept away 20 challengers during his reign, most being overwhelmed by his sheer volume of punches, but Kessler is not planning to be No 21. “I studied him,” Kessler said. “Joe’s force is to come forward, throw a lot of punches, be fast and to spoil one’s boxing. That’s his plan. My plan’s a secret.”
Few boxers get to hide away in training camps any more. Television companies pay big bucks to get the rights to the contest and expect the boxers to help to sell it. Kessler attended press conferences in New York and Cardiff nearly two months ago but has since been invisible. Interview requests were denied and a conference call with the US media was ignored, much to the annoyance of HBO, the US cable giant, that had initially balked at the idea of helping to finance a bout between two European boxers. One US website even mocked up a milk carton, with an image of Kessler as a missing child on the side.
This week, Calzaghe was again ****ing the promotional drum alone, this time for Setanta, the subscription channel, which will screen the bout live in Britain. Some rumours suggest the lack of cooperation from the Danish camp is because Calzaghe refused to go to Denmark for a press conference. Kessler seems oblivious to it all.
Absence from the media spotlight creates gossip. Listen long enough to some people and Kessler’s presence in Wales next weekend is in doubt. Some suggest he has not sparred, some suggest he has barely trained. From my first meeting with Kessler, as he is being stretched by his physiotherapist, the latter is easy to dispel. Kessler looks in excellent shape. He also seems relaxed and certainly excited at the prospect of the bout.
For two months, home has been a flat in a converted silo overlooking Copenhagen’s former harbour in Islands Brygge. Once home to a huge chemical works, the area houses the modern apartments of Copenhagen’s mega-rich. Since the start of the year, Kessler’s home has been in Monte Carlo, the bitterly cold weather being a main reason why he left his homeland.
“I had a lot of injuries and the heat is a lot better,” he said. “I had two operations here and here [pointing to the metacarpals in each hand] and then I had an operation on my elbow.
“I thought when I decided to move there I would be hanging out with all the big stars, but no. I just hang out with my friends. There’s a great boxing club at the stadium. There’s a beach where I run and go swimming.”
When Sweden and Norway banned professional boxing in the Seventies and Eighties [the ban has been repealed in Sweden], Copenhagen became the centre of the sport in Scandinavia. On boxing weekends, hundreds would flock over Oresund Bridge from Sweden to see the likes of Steffen Tangstad, Anders Eklund, Ayub Kalule and, in the Nineties, Brian Nielsen, Kessler’s first hero, who boxed Mike Tyson here.
Kessler, who celebrates his heritage with a huge tattoo of a Viking warrior that covers half his torso, is the finest boxer in Scandinavia’s history. However, he will enter the ring in Cardiff with a Union Flag on his shorts next to the Danish one. The Danish hero is half British.
Kessler’s mother, Ann, hails from Salisbury, Wiltshire. He has a half-brother, Mark, who lives in Lincolnshire. “He was older than me and was raised by my grandparents,” Kessler said. “I always knew he existed but it was only three years ago that we met. He will be there in Cardiff. He’s a real biker with a big beard and lots of piercings – he’s a really great guy.”
But few in the huge crowd will be backing Kessler. “It’s going to be an experience,” he said. “I fought in Australia – there were 15,000 people booing me. I used it and thought, ‘I’ll show them’. I’m not nervous; maybe I will be on the day of the weigh-in. I’m really looking forward to it.”
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