"Super" Six Tourney? Not Without Mikkel Kessler

[BattlingNelson]

why would you want to *** someones career like this!? **** palle!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$

[Peder]

I do believe this was expected by all parties involved. The dispute between Kessler and Palle started long time before Sauerland got involved, and it was clear from the start it would end in court.
I dont think the problem is that big, either they win and nothing happens, or Kessler pays Palle whatever % from his next 3 fights. With Perdomo that means Palle is out of the picture well before (perhaps) semi's.
By signing Kessler they must be prepared to buy Palle out - but only if they need to.

Either way beats 3 fights @ team Palle. They used way to much time to find "opposition", and found ways to minimise Kesslers paycut.

I don't think Palle will win the case though..

[Greatwhitehope]

Biiiiiiiiiiikaaaaaaaa!!!!!

[Bogs]

Also, Cliff rightly points to the terrible (IMO) anomaly of Bute's exclusion from the tournament, but I would expect a website containing as many respected, high calibre boxing writers as boxingscene has to be able to do some investigative journalism and get to the bottom of why he was excluded, and I'm surprised that they haven't done this.

This piece of journalism is not difficult, because the reason was made public long ago: Bute was asked, and he said no.

Maybe Bute changed his mind when he saw the magnitude of it all, but that's his problem.

[Bogs]

Palle can very well sue both Showtime and Sauerland the way I see it. If he is right in him having the legal rights to Kessler they have been tampering with his protegée.

Maybe it's about time to get the facts right about the Kessler vs. Palle debacle.

Mogens Palle is not Mikkel Kesslers manager. His daughter Bettina Palle is (or was). Mogens Palle, as a promoter, claims to have options for the next three Kessler fights. But that's a different story, so we have two issues:

1. Kesslers manager contract with Bettina Palle expires near the end of this year.

However, Kessler terminated the contract late 2008, because he did not feel that Bettina Palle had fulfilled her duties and obligations as a manager, and that she had not worked in his best interest.

As to the daily routines as a manager, Kesslers friend and advisor, Simon Lundt, had performed those chores for years. Lundt was responsible for Kesslers website, as an example, and according to reports, Bettina Palle had not done much to help Kessler getting sponsorships. Again, Lundt and Kessler himself took care of that.

But the straw finally broke when Kessler realised what had happened regarding his payment for the Calzaghe fight. Mogens Palle had taken care of the lengthy negotiations for that fight, and Kessler was to get a purse of some 5 mio dollars for the fight. However, as Kesslers manager, Bettina Palle got 33 percent of that, leaving less that 3.5 mio for Kessler.

At the same time, Mogens Palle had secured the Scandinavian tv-rights for himself. The fight went on ppv in Denmark, and although no final figures have ever been published, insiders have estimated the tv-income to exceed 4 mio dollars. Kessler got zero percent of that income. This, in effect, means that the Palle family earned considerably more on the Calzaghe fight than Kessler himself.

Kessler claims that by accepting that deal on his behalf, and by not informing him of the tv-deal, Bettina Palle had not fulfilled her obligations as his manager, but rather served the interests of the Palle family. Therefore he terminated the contract. Bettina Palle has not said much in public about this matter lately, and it does not seem to be the main problem now.

2. Mogens Palle claims to have options to promote three Kessler fights.

Kessler apparently signed the options when he signed the fight contract to face Danilo Häussler in a mandatory, a fight that was not staged by Palle, but by Sauerland who had won the purseoffer (and you may ask, why sign options with a promoter in connection with signing a mandatory, especially when that mandatory is staged by another promoter?).

Kessler says that he did not know that he signed any options. He thought he just signed a fight contract. That may not hold in court, because his signature is on the paper.

As Kessler and his lawyers interpret the options, Häussler was the first fight of the three. That must be a matter for the lawyers to sort out. But more importantly, the options contract reportedly stipulate that the three fights had to be held within 3 x 120 days (nine months in all). This time has run out now. The Häussler fight was held in October 2008.

Kessler and his team has on several occasions pleaded with Team Palle to get the fights over with quickly, so he could get on with his career. First when a fight with compatriot Mads Larsen was on the table early this year, a fight that could not be realised, partly because Palle wanted to promote it on his own, without the participation of Larsens promoter, Sauerland - and by the way, Palle initially went around Sauerland for this fight, negotiating directly with Larsens personal advisor.

Then Kessler had to get his mandatory against Perdomo over with. According to WBA stipulations, the fight was to have taken place no later that July, but it kept getting delayed, surely because Palle kept hoping that Kessler vs. Larsen could happen. Kessler finally asked Palle to make the Perdomo fight happen no later than September, but Palle couldn't or wouldn't do that. That's when Kessler declared that he was free of Palle, and that he had signed with Sauerland - with Super Six in sight.

You can have all kinds of discussions of morality or whatever, but this is what happened, in a short version.