Saturday night "The Pride of Wales"
Joe Calzaghe dominated a very game Mikkel "The Viking
Warrior" Kessler to earn a unanimous decision victory
in front of 50,000 fans in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
The fight was a unifcation for the super middleweight
boxing championship between two undefeated fighters and
lived up to the hype with flying colors.
Using a combination of fast hands, odd angles,
and a relentless pace Calzaghe fought off an initial five
rounds of give and take action to handily take control
in the sixth and impose his will the rest of the fight.
Kessler fought extremely well, catching Joe with uppercuts
and strong straight right hands throughout, but the Welshman's
furious pace and big fight experience proved too much
for the Dane. In the end Calzaghe racked up the points
backing Kessler up with overhand lefts, hurting him with
body shots, and inevitably tiring the strong Dane with
work rate and an accumulation of punches. Both fighters
proved their mettle with heart, determination, and top
notch skill but it was Calzaghe's technique, aggression,
and seemingly unlimited stamina that proved the deciding
factor. I pity the fool who gets in the ring with either
in the future. All fighters between 160 and 175 will surely
be put on notice: Calzaghe and Kessler are two of the
best in the world.
The loss was the first for Kessler (39-1)
and continued Calzaghe's dominance (44-0) at super middleweight
as his 21st successful defense of his WBO title. Judges
scores were 117-111, 116-112, and 116-112 all for Calzaghe
and were in accordance with our live scoring at Undependent
Media.
The fight, which was shown live on HBO,
is the second in a series of excellent fights by the pay
TV company during the fall season. With middleweight unification
between Taylor and Pavlik already in the books and a potential
fight of the year candidate, and Mosely/Cotto and Mayweather/Hatton
on deck to close out the year this is undoubtedly one
of the greatest four month stretches ever for watching
the best 147-168 pounders duke it out.
My Scoring of the
Fight:
| Round |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
Total |
| Calzaghe |
10 |
9 |
10 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
117 |
| Kessler |
10 |
10 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
10 |
113 |
Commentator Emmanuel
Steward's quote of the evening:
"Calzaghe
is special... a fighting machine."
|
