Calzaghe beats Kessler to unify belts
Joe Calzaghe has held at least a portion of the title since 1997.
Cardiff, Wales - Joe Calzaghe became the undisputed super middleweight champion with a 12-round unanimous decision over Mikkel Kessler.
Calzaghe (44-0) dominated, winning by scores of 117-111 from one judge and 116-112 on the two other scorecards. The native of Newbridge, Wales has held at least a portion of the title since 1997.
Kessler (39-1) lost his WBC and WBA portions of the belt, while Calzaghe successfully defended his WBO crown.
The fight didn’t start until after 1:30 a.m. local time due to an HBO television commitment.
Kessler came out strong early, but after he slipped down in the opening seconds of the third round the Dane was the recipient of several left-right combinations from Calzaghe.
The middle rounds went to Calzaghe, who used precision punching to land almost at will for a time. Calzaghe ended the fight landing 285 punches, 112 more than Kessler, whose best round in the second half of the bout didn’t occur until the final round. However, by that time Calzaghe was well ahead on all scorecards.
On the undercard, Enzo Maccarinelli, another residence of Wales, retained his WBO cruiserweight crown with a fourth-round knockout of Algerian Mohamed Azzaoui. Mohamed was counted out 58 seconds into the round after sustaining a big body shot.
Popularity: 3% [?]
