Kessler vs. Palle Continues, Sturm vs. Sato Booming

[Dave Rado]

Regarding Miranda there was 2 separate negotiations. The first time Kessler (Palle) pulled out giving no explanation which still looks bad and put Showtime in a difficult situation.

Shortly thereafter Palle had arranged that Miranda was upgraded in the WBA rankings so that a Miranda-Kessler fight would be for the title. Palle also agreed to fight in Florida and the fight was to be televised. Warriors (Miranda) had simultaneously negotiated with Sauerland for a rematch with AA and in the end ditched Kessler and chose the Abrahammer.

After that fiasco Sartison, ranked no.3 or 4 by WBA fought the no.1 ranked Kessler for the title vacated/stripped off Mundine, who refused to defend against Kessler, for the title. However the no.2 ranked fighter filed a protest since he was bypassed, so Kessler was ordered by the WBA to defend against that fighter within 90(?) days. That fighter was Haussler.

Don't ask how the WBA ratings are compiled by the way. Today Gusmyl Perdomo is mandatory. His best result is a close decision loss to Sartison.

Thanks for that information. I agree the second negotiations with Miranda were unfortunate, from Kessler's point of view, but the first time still looks like a terrible decision to me.

The alphabet ratings are all appalling, I don't know how they can get away with it!

[BattlingNelson]

I agree that the fact that no one is calling Kessler out is bad, but don't you think that a lineal champion who is not yet a big name should be doing everything he can to make meaningful fights with the top fighters in his own division, and should be calling out some of them (not just Taylor)? Then even if they say no, it will be obvious to everyone that they're ducking him, and not the other way round. I have nothing against him for trying to get fights with the 6 people he did, except that I think he should also have tried to get fights with some of the leading contenders in his own division, apart from Taylor. And also, I still think that if he really wanted to fight Dawson, he should have been willing to do so at Light Heavyweight - he's just not a big enough name yet to tempt anyone to fight him at catchweight, IMO.

Who can blame him for primarily going for the biggest fights first? It's still a business.

But he did say that he would love to fight Froch after Froch mentioned him in his coloumn in the Nottingham Localpostgazette ( ). Kessler commented that he'd love to fight Froch. He said that he wanted to have his old belt back. But by that time the taylor negotiations took off for real. Had they not I'm pretty sure we'd be looking at Froch-Kessler and not Froch-Taylor.

[BattlingNelson]

Thanks for that information. I agree the second negotiations with Miranda were unfortunate, from Kessler's point of view, but the first time still looks like a terrible decision to me.

The alphabet ratings are all appalling, I don't know how they can get away with it!

Yeah. Palle played hardball and lost. One of several losses for him this past year.

[Dave Rado]

Who can blame him for primarily going for the biggest fights first? It's still a business.

I don't, but in parallel I think he should have tried to get fights with contenders in his own division. Froch and Taylor are temporarily out of circulation, but he could be calling for the winner to fight him, and in the meantime he could be calling out Bute, Greene, Bika, Dirrell and the other leading contenders,

[BattlingNelson]

I don't, but in parallel I think he should have tried to get fights with contenders in his own division. Froch and Taylor are temporarily out of circulation, but he could be calling for the winner to fight him, and in the meantime he could be calling out Bute, Greene, Bika, Dirrell and the other leading contenders,

He called out 6 fighters and you want him to call out 6+ more? How pathetic can he get?

[Dave Rado]

He called out 6 fighters and you want him to call out 6+ more? How pathetic can he get?

I want him to fight meaningful fights. And I want the Super Middleweight Division to have a dominant champion who regularly beats the top contenders.

Hatton's a good analogy - he's fighting Pac now, but in his last fight he beat the #1 contender in his division, Malignaggi. And before he fought Mayweather his previous fight was against the #1 contender in his division, Castillo. The best way to get fights against big names in other divisions is to prove yourself to be a dominant champion in your own.

[BattlingNelson]

I want him to fight meaningful fights. And I want the Super Middleweight Division to have a dominant champion who regularly beats the top contenders.

Hatton's a good analogy - he's fighting Pac now, but in his last fight he beat the #1 contender in his division, Malignaggi. And before he fought Mayweather his previous fight was against the #1 contender in his division, Castillo. The best way to get fights against big names in other divisions is to prove yourself to be a dominant champion in your own.

I guess we all want to see the best fights as possible. Let's just face the facts: It's mighty difficult for a small country eurofighter to break through in the US. The risk/reward ratio just isn't there. A shame really since we could probably all agree that he has a talent that deserves to be tested by the best.

[Kris Silver]

I can see both sides here, Kessler called out loads of guys mostly big names, so there's no problems with his willingness and aspirations.

Kessler I'm sure would probably expected 6 call outs was more than enough, just not too much to be ridiculous in order to land some fights. But amazingly it wasn't, not even to get talks really going.

So perhaps more mentions of guys in division whom would be more up for a fight, like Bika, Froch, Lacy, Green and others may have been worthwhile mentioning as they're hungry to climb the division.

However none are really that big, or bring much to Kessler certainly at those times. Furthermore he's in the midst of mandatories and a legal battle with his promoter, so he's not in a strong position for anything.

I'm sure he'd like to dominate SMW, and yes it did Calzaghe favours so there is a point in focusing on rounding up the belts of the smaller fighters first, then move on to bigger names.

However, Hatton is also a perfect example of the opposite too.

In that he can go without holding any or many major belts and is still agreed on as the best.

That's the case for Kessler in SMW for the vast majority. The belts help but he's still agreed on as the best. So people should be more willing to take on the agreed best guy of a division.

[BattlingNelson]

I can see both sides here, Kessler called out loads of guys mostly big names, so there's no problems with his willingness and aspirations.

Kessler I'm sure would probably expected 6 call outs was more than enough, just not too much to be ridiculous in order to land some fights. But amazingly it wasn't, not even to get talks really going.

So perhaps more mentions of guys in division whom would be more up for a fight, like Bika, Froch, Lacy, Green and others may have been worthwhile mentioning as they're hungry to climb the division.

In a way I think this is wrong because HE is the top guy in the division. Surely he shouldn't have to call out fighters arguably below his level? Not THEY should be calling out HIM as he is the man to beat if you wanna be top dog.

But they don't. Why? Beacause of the risk/reward ratio.

[Kris Silver]

In a way I think this is wrong because HE is the top guy in the division. Surely he shouldn't have to call out fighters arguably below his level? Not THEY should be calling out HIM as he is the man to beat if you wanna be top dog.

But they don't. Why? Beacause of the risk/reward ratio.

That's taking it a step further, and yes your right.

It's pretty ridiculous when you put Hatton (best of his division without many belts) and Kessler (best of his division with belts) and one is called out by everyone in and out of the division, the other calls out everyone and get's fuck all. It's a crying shame that boxing has come to that.