Mikkel Kessler: Difference between revisions
World Boxing Association |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 18: | Line 18: | ||
|}} |
|}} |
||
'''Mikkel Kessler''' (born March 1, 1979) is a [[Denmark|Danish]] professional [[boxing|boxer]] and former [[World Boxing Association|WBA]] & [[World Boxing Council|WBC]] [[Super Middleweight]] champion the latter he won against the previously undefeated [[Carl Froch]] on |
'''Mikkel Kessler''' (born March 1, 1979) is a [[Denmark|Danish]] professional [[boxing|boxer]] and former [[World Boxing Association|WBA]] & [[World Boxing Council|WBC]] [[Super Middleweight]] champion the latter he won against the previously undefeated [[Carl Froch]] on April 2010. In his professional career he has a record of 43-2 32 [[knockout]]s. With his win over unbeaten Carl Froch, bagging the WBC Super Middleweight title, Kessler became a three time world champion.<ref>http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Mikkel_Kessler</ref> |
||
==Early life== |
==Early life== |
||
Revision as of 20:16, 12 May 2011
Mikkel Kessler | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mikkel Kessler March 1, 1979 |
| Nationality |  Danish |
| Other names | Viking Warrior, Hitman, Simply the Best |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | Super middleweight |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 45 |
| Wins | 43 |
| Wins by KO | 32 |
| Losses | 2 |
Mikkel Kessler (born March 1, 1979) is a Danish professional boxer and former WBA & WBC Super Middleweight champion the latter he won against the previously undefeated Carl Froch on 24 April 2010. In his professional career he has a record of 43-2 with 32 knockouts. With his win over unbeaten Carl Froch, bagging the WBC Super Middleweight title, Kessler became a three time world champion.[1]
Early life
Kessler was born to a Danish father and an English mother, Ann, who hails from Salisbury, Wiltshire.[2] He began his vocation early, training in boxing gyms at age 13.
Amateur career
Kessler fought three years as an amateur. He finished his amateur career with a record of 44 wins, and three losses. He has won the Danish Championship five times in addition to the Norwegian Championship and the Scandinavian Championship.
Professional career
He originally started campaigning as a light middleweight and then middleweight for the first 22 fights of his career. He won 16 of his first 22 fights by knockout (KO).
After 3 years and 22 fights, Kessler settled in the super middleweight division. Kessler continued his hard hitting streak, dispatching 6 of his first 7 opponents by KO, thereby improving his record to 29-0 with 22 KO.
On November 29, 2002, Kessler fought for his first championship and defeated former World Boxing Council (WBC) super middleweight champion Dingaan Thobela over twelve rounds to become International Boxing Association champion. He gave up this belt to fight for the more recognized WBC International title on April 11, 2003, versus Craig Cummings. Kessler won by a knockout in the third round.
He defended his title on three occasions before finally hitting it big on November 12, 2004. His stablemate, Mads Larsen, another Danish World Class fighter, was set to challenge Manny Siaca for the World Boxing Association championship in Copenhagen. Larsen was injured in training and Kessler took the fight on short notice, winning the title.
Kessler defended his title against Anthony Mundine in Sydney in June 2005 and Eric Lucas in January 2006.
On October 14, 2006, Kessler was elevated to WBA "super champion" status after winning the WBC title in a unification battle against WBC World Champion Markus Beyer, at the Parken Stadium. He won by knockout at 2:58 in round 3.
Kessler defended his WBA super/WBC titles on March 24, 2007, at the Parken Stadium against WBC mandatory challenger Librado Andrade. The fight was scored as a shutout (120-108) by all three judges.
Kessler then met fellow undefeated champion Joe Calzaghe. The bout took place at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on November 3, 2007, in front of over 50,000 fans (then the largest indoor boxing event in European history) and was a unification bout for the WBO/WBA/WBC/Ring Magazine super middleweight titles. Kessler lost the unification bout via unanimous decision, with the judges scoring the fight: 117-111, 116-112, 116-112.[3]
Second Reign
Kessler faced Dimitri Sartison on June 21, 2008, for the vacant WBA Super Middleweight regular title. Kessler won the match by knockout in the 12th round.
Kessler successfully defended his title against Danilo Häussler, KO3 on October 25, and against Gusmyl Perdomo (16-2, 10KOs), KO4 on 12 September 2009, one minute into the round.
In November 2009 the WBA once again promoted him to Super Champion, this time prior to unifying any Super Middleweight titles.[4]
Super Six
His first fight was against Andre Ward on November 21, 2009 for Kessler's WBA Super Middleweight Championship in the Super Six World Boxing Classic. On November 21, 2009 Kessler lost his championship to Andre Ward. The fight was stopped in the eleventh round due to cuts on Kessler's face caused by what was deemed unintentional headbutts by Ward. The fight went to the scorecards and Ward was far ahead by scores of 98-92, 98-92, and 97-93 at the time of the stoppage. Many observers were disappointed with Kesslers performance against Ward, the ways in which he was exposed in his defence, movement and the ability to fight on the inside were evident in the fight, questions rose about his retirement from boxing after the loss, however Kessler wanted to prove his worth with a huge test against Carl Froch then the current WBC world champ.
On April 24. 2010 Kessler showed the world that his skills and durability had not gone anywhere with a tough yet fair unanimous decision against Britain's undefeated world champion Carl Froch, a match that was called "a classic" and "one of the best matches in Danish boxing ever."[5] The match lasted all 12 rounds and Kessler bagged the decision with scores of 117-111, 115-113 and 116-112. With the win Kessler became WBC World Champion and the first to break Froch's undefeated winning streak in 26 fights.
Andre Ward later praised Kessler tremendously in an interview with fightnews.com, calling Kessler "skill wise...the toughest I’ve fought so far". Ward went on to express admiration over Kessler's career and dispelling any criticism after his own victory over Kessler. "People want to put down Mikkel Kessler because of our fight but he’s proven himself. He’s proven that if he loses a title he can come back and become champion again, he did that after our fight so now he’s a three time world champion. Anybody that can win a world title three times and only have two losses in the process says a lot. He’s a great fighter and I give him a lot of credit and I have a lot of respect for him."[6]
On August 25, Kessler announced he was withdrawing from the Super Six tournament due to the worsening of the eye injury he suffered in his fight against Ward. According to Ekstra Bladet newspaper, Kessler stated he was seeing double. Doctors told him he must take a nine month break from boxing.[7]
Other
On Volbeat's album Beyond Hell/ Above Heaven there is a song dedicated to Mikkel Kessler named "A Warrior's Call" which contains the lyrics "The viking warrior Mikkel Kessler".
Kessler is sponsored by Jack&Jones clothing and can often be seen wearing the brand whilst training and as well on his underwear and shorts at weigh-ins and fights.
Kessler is the younger brother of adult model and actress Linse Christiansen.
Professional boxing record
See also
References
- ^ http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Mikkel_Kessler
- ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/boxingandmma/2324665/Mikkel-Kessler-displays-his-warrior-spirit.html
- ^ Calzaghe v Kessler as it happened
- ^ http://wbanews.com/artman/publish/news/Sartison-Bozic_for_WBA_Super_Middleweight_title.shtml
- ^ http://ekstrabladet.dk/sport/anden_sport/boksning/article1335734.ece
- ^ http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/qa-andre-ward-51192
- ^ http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/kessler-injured-57522
- ^ [1]