26.09.07 – By Matthew Hurley: Of all the big fights coming up as we head into the winter months there is one that truly gets this writer’s juices flowing. When Joe Calzaghe steps into the ring with Mikkel Kessler in a super middleweight boxing title unification match I will be on the edge of my seat. I have long championed Joe Calzaghe, and long been frustrated with him because of endless injuries. And then Mikkel Kessler came along. Immediately I began to salivate over this potential rivalry.
The super middleweight division is an anomaly, let’s be frank. But it has housed some of the most exciting fighters in the business. It was also the residence of one of the most highly anticipated rematches in boxing history. When Thomas Hearns finally got his second shot at Sugar Ray Leonard back in 1989 I was an aspiring sports writer. I covered the press conference for a writing class at Northeastern University and the entire experience changed my life.
Dealing with Bob Arum and security guards and all the nonsense that goes along with big fight “to dos” I found myself completely spell bound by the fighters. It certainly helped matters that the “Hitman” was, and remains, my all time favorite pugilist. And he couldn’t have been nicer or more accommodating to me.
So the super middleweight division, not one of the original eight divisions, has a history. From Hearns and Leonard, to Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank right on down to Calzaghe and Kessler – two of the best fighters in the business, the one hundred and sixty eight pound division has provided boxing fans much to cheer about. This match up will not only provide fight fans with classic technical skills, it will also ratch up the intensity with a sell out crowd at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales that will be infectious.
Calzaghe has compiled one of the most impressive resumes in boxing but his critics have consistently maintained that he has dodged tough fights. Indeed he has pulled out of numerous bouts because of injuries but his complete domination of Jeff Lacy in 2006 proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the long time reigning champion was legitimate.
Kessler is by far Calzaghe’s toughest challenger. Despite the fact that Calzaghe went into his bout against Lacy as an underdog, most die hard fans and media scribes knew that the champion would bust up his green challenger. Kessler is a completely different package. The man can fight and Calzaghe knows it. The heavily tattooed Kessler presents all sorts of dilemmas for the long time pound for pound resident. He’s big, technically sound and hits with sledge hammer fists.
The bout will unify the titles at super middleweight, but the belts are superfluous. Of course they mean the world to the two combatants, but to the fans all that matters is that these two supremely talented fighters are squaring off against one another.
The fight will be broadcast at 5:00 PM Eastern standard time and replayed the same day at 10:30 PM on HBO.