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Calzaghe v Kessler


janu
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Date: Saturday, 3 November

Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Coverage: Setanta, BBC Radio 5 Live, Radio Wales, Radio Cymru & the BBC Sport website

_44207239_calzaghe_kessler_huw_203.jpg

 

Kessler counting on age advantage

 

Mikkel Kessler says his youth will give him an edge in his super middleweight unification bout with Joe Calzaghe.

 

"He's always been in great physical shape and is by no means an old man, but he's 35 and that could be a weakness," said the 28-year-old Dane.

 

"I've seen other problems I won't name. Calzaghe's a great fighter but I'm more focused and youthful, he may tire."

 

The WBA and WBC champion dismissed rumours of a hand injury and said that training and sparring had been perfect.

 

"It's been a four-month camp and everything has gone so well, I don't know where any talk of injury has come from," said Kessler, ahead of Saturday's bout at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

 

The Dane will be pitching his impressive 39-0 (29 KOs) record against WBO champion Calzaghe's own undefeated card of 43-0 (32 KOs).

 

The Welshman has held his belt for 10 years, making him the longest-reigning current champion in boxing, and will be making his 21st defence.

 

"I've had hand trouble since I was 14, but everything's been perfect this time," said Calzaghe. "I've been able to spar properly, so I'm relaxed, confident and ready.

 

"Weight is always a problem, I'm a big super middleweight, but I've been doing this for 13 years and it's in hand.

 

"I need something extra on these fights, as I showed when I raised my performances against the likes of Chris Eubank and Jeff Lacy.

 

"I've had a 12-week training camp and I feel fantastic. I need a challenge like Kessler to get me psyched up.

 

"He's a good, all-round fighter, better than Lacy, taller and more skilful. He's undefeated and hungry.

 

"But I've done well against taller fighters like Mario Veit and Richie Woodhall, the best upright-type boxer I've faced.

 

"As I'm nearly 36, Kessler might be hoping that I'm over the hill this time, but, believe me, I've still got the hunger, I'm as fit as ever and there's a lot I still have to achieve in boxing."

 

Over 50,000 are expected to attend, but the crowd is expected to fall short of the world record 63,350 who watched Muhammad Ali's rematch with Leon Spinks at the New Orleans Superdome in 1978.

 

"It's a great stadium and, although the crowd will be hostile, there'll be about 1,000 over from Denmark and I'm looking forward to it," said Kessler.

 

"I can feel the fight coming and things building, but I'm not nervous. I went all the way to Australia to make the first defence of my title against Anthony Mundine and I had no problems there.

 

"You always fear the judges' decision if it goes 12 rounds, but I'm prepared for that and I don't feel I have to win by knock-out."

 

Kessler did not retract his suggestion that Calzaghe "slaps" with punches, but was keen to qualify his remarks.

 

"I said that because he has a technical weakness with his punches, he doesn't turn his wrist and he has suffered a number of hand injuries," he said.

 

"Calzaghe's a great all-round fighter, but I feel I'm the smarter guy and the better man - I won't make the mistakes that Lacy did.

 

"This is a worldwide breakthrough fight for me, it's great to be on primetime US television."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/7069703.stm

 

Calzaghe boxing record:

Total fights 43

Wins 43

Wins by KO 32

Losses 0

 

Kessler boxing record:

Total fights 39

Wins 39

Wins by KO 29

Losses 0

 

Ladbrokes:

4/7 Joe Calzaghe

20/1 Draw

11/8 Mikkel Kessler

 

Really looking forward to this fight. Howay Kessler :lol:

Mikkel-Kessler-Andrade5.jpg

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Fingers crossed for Calzaghe, not seen Kessler fight so I'll not make a prediction, its good to see two undefeated champions fighting, just what boxing needs.

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Wanted to watch this, my brother has got it but I promised to go out with the Mrs.

Couldn't you do both? I bet it starts after 12. Or wouldn't that go down very well? :lol:

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Wanted to watch this, my brother has got it but I promised to go out with the Mrs.

Couldn't you do both? I bet it starts after 12. Or wouldn't that go down very well? :lol:

 

Aye, I knew it was a late kick off..and aye, it would be a brave move. :lol:

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Fingers crossed for Calzaghe, not seen Kessler fight so I'll not make a prediction, its good to see two undefeated champions fighting, just what boxing needs.

 

 

And having mutual respect, nice change to see them being complimentary about each other's abilities before the fight.

 

Gets a bit boring when it's always trash talking before a fight.

 

Should be a cracking fight.

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Wanted to watch this, my brother has got it but I promised to go out with the Mrs.

Couldn't you do both? I bet it starts after 12. Or wouldn't that go down very well? :lol:

 

Aye, I knew it was a late kick off..and aye, it would be a brave move. :lol:

 

 

Sneak downstairs when she's asleep and watch it with the headphones plugged in. :lol:

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Wanted to watch this, my brother has got it but I promised to go out with the Mrs.

Couldn't you do both? I bet it starts after 12. Or wouldn't that go down very well? :lol:

 

Aye, I knew it was a late kick off..and aye, it would be a brave move. :lol:

 

 

Sneak downstairs when she's asleep and watch it with the headphones plugged in. :lol:

 

I haven't got Setanta, but my brother has and is having a piss up round his which he invited me to. So it would mean coming from the night out and going to my brothers.

 

'Here love, you get in this taxi, I'm off to wor kids to watch the boxing.'

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Wanted to watch this, my brother has got it but I promised to go out with the Mrs.

Couldn't you do both? I bet it starts after 12. Or wouldn't that go down very well? :lol:

 

Aye, I knew it was a late kick off..and aye, it would be a brave move. :lol:

 

 

Sneak downstairs when she's asleep and watch it with the headphones plugged in. :lol:

 

I haven't got Setanta, but my brother has and is having a piss up round his which he invited me to. So it would mean coming from the night out and going to my brothers.

 

'Here love, you get in this taxi, I'm off to wor kids to watch the boxing.'

 

Get your brother to invite the two of you round for a meal. As you're tucking into your dessert your brother could suddenly 'discover' that the boxing is on. Job done.

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Wanted to watch this, my brother has got it but I promised to go out with the Mrs.

Couldn't you do both? I bet it starts after 12. Or wouldn't that go down very well? :lol:

 

Aye, I knew it was a late kick off..and aye, it would be a brave move. :lol:

 

 

Sneak downstairs when she's asleep and watch it with the headphones plugged in. :lol:

 

I haven't got Setanta, but my brother has and is having a piss up round his which he invited me to. So it would mean coming from the night out and going to my brothers.

 

'Here love, you get in this taxi, I'm off to wor kids to watch the boxing.'

 

Get your brother to invite the two of you round for a meal. As you're tucking into your dessert your brother could suddenly 'discover' that the boxing is on. Job done.

Have you read the thread? :D

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Wanted to watch this, my brother has got it but I promised to go out with the Mrs.

Couldn't you do both? I bet it starts after 12. Or wouldn't that go down very well? :lol:

 

Aye, I knew it was a late kick off..and aye, it would be a brave move. :lol:

 

 

Sneak downstairs when she's asleep and watch it with the headphones plugged in. :lol:

 

I haven't got Setanta, but my brother has and is having a piss up round his which he invited me to. So it would mean coming from the night out and going to my brothers.

 

'Here love, you get in this taxi, I'm off to wor kids to watch the boxing.'

 

Get your brother to invite the two of you round for a meal. As you're tucking into your dessert your brother could suddenly 'discover' that the boxing is on. Job done.

Have you read the thread? :D

 

 

Yeah, I know. Hair brained schemes are my way of distracting myself from writing my essay.

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Calzaghe makes weight comfortably

 

Calzaghe weighed 11st 12lb 7oz ahead of their super-middleweight unification bout in the early hours of Sunday.

 

But Kessler was initiallly two ounces over before shedding his underwear to weigh-in at exactly 12-stone.

 

The pair were pulled apart when their head-to-head threatened to get heated as they rubbed foreheads together.

 

For all Calzaghe's supposed problems with making the weight, the Newbridge fighter looked comfortable on the scales.

 

With the limit made, the 35-year-old can now build towards the Saturday night-Sunday morning cracker at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

 

"Forget about the fight. All I care about is my fridge," Calzaghe joked.

 

"Cakes, chocolates, sweets, pies - at this stage the only thing that matters is what you can eat out of your fridge!"

 

Kessler's US agent, Mike Marley, believes his fighter will herald the dawn of a new era in the super middleweight division when he faces Calzaghe.

 

"A Great Dane always beats a Welsh terrier," said the colourful Marley.

 

"It's Kessler's time. How do you get to be a superstar in boxing? You beat one. Calzaghe won't hurt Kessler, but I know that Kessler will hurt Calzaghe.

 

"Calzaghe was a great champion, but Tony Blair was a great PM and he's gone, everyone's time has to end."

 

Speaking at the head-to-head media session before Saturday's unification bout at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, promoter Frank Warren hailed the event as one of the best he has ever been involved in.

 

But Warren's comment that undefeated WBA and WBC champion Kessler was similar to two-time Calzaghe victim Mario Veit prompted an angry response from the Dane's camp.

 

"Mikkel is nothing like Veit, but it's good to know that's what they think," said Kessler's promoter Mogens Palle, who hopes to see her fighter end Calzaghe's 10-year reign as WBO champion.

 

Marley - who got involved in boxing with Muhammad Ali at the age of 13, was on Don King's pay-roll for over a decade, and worked with Mike Tyson - then took over.

 

"Mikkel is not a Tocker Pudwill, Kabary Salem or a one-dimensional robot like Jeff Lacy," said Marley.

 

"It's a shame that Joe never fought the great Roy Jones Jr or Bernard Hopkins. Whether that's because 'stay-at-home Joe' wanted to stay in Wales, I don't know.

 

"We wanted this fight in Copenhagen, but had to come here. Mikkel said 'get the contract signed' and I thought we'd have to fight in Joe's kitchen.

 

"It's a great fight. To borrow a phrase from my old employer Don King 'they're white, but they can fight' and this will catch the imagination of the US public when it goes out on primetime TV.

 

"I respect Joe, but Mikkel's younger, stronger and hits harder. There's no way he can lose."

 

Calzaghe, who has won all his 43 fights and will be making the 21st defence of his title, remained cool throughout Marley's oral bombardment.

 

"They're banking on my age, but the fighter I am today would kick the backside of the one I was five years ago," said Calzaghe.

 

"We're both injury free and have prepared well, so there'll be no excuses come fight night."

 

I've just put £40 on Kessler to win :lol:

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Guest James_coDurham

I said Calzaghe on points tbh, wish I'd bet on it. For all those saying it was great etc, I think it was decent, but a bit boring in the sense that neither of them really hurt each other. No knockdowns or anything was a bit shit.

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I thought it was an exciting fight live, both could hurt the other and often did.

 

Good fight in my opinion.

 

Agreed, he really shook the welshman in the 4th. Have to say though for the size of him Calzaghe's shots look weak as piss and I can see where their coming from when they say he slaps, luckily his speed and technique make up for this

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