Where Pavlik/Taylor was a great match because it was a brawl, Calzaghe/Kessler was a great match because it was a demonstration in The Sweet Science.
Joe Calzaghe proved why he is in fact the undisputed 168-pound champion—the fact that there’s one more belt out there in the division is an afterthought—after gaining a unanimous decision win Saturday Night over Mikkel Kessler, the former WBA and WBC Super Middleweight champ.
For a relatively young weight division—it’s only been in existence since 1984—this was it’s first Superfight with two unbeatens holding three belts looking for one man to have them all by night’s end.
The term could not have described this fight better. For twelve rounds, both men provided the excitement and fury that most big fights in recent years have lacked.
It was interesting in the buildup to this fight that most of the comparison to this fight and Superfights of the past paralleled this one with Leonard/Hearns I as I saw this more like Leonard/Hagler with Kessler as the all-business Hagler to Calzaghe’s speedy, charismatic Leonard.
The main question posed by many going into this fight was whether Kessler’s power would eventually overmatch Calzaghe’s speed. Most people believed it would; most people were wrong. After the first half of the fight was mostly even and kept the suspense up about when the hammer would come down for one man, Calzaghe answered the question by dominating the final six rounds with his speed and combinations taking over.
That is not to say that Kessler just gave up and was overwhelmed, it was speed vs. power and on this night speed won. Kessler showed great pride and determination fighting the whole way and giving further validation to the old adage that a wounded animal is at its most dangerous as Kessler continued throwing power shots and sometimes landing despite swelling over his left eye that was never worked upon in his corner. Kessler’s desperation/determination in the second half of the fight did help give it its best rounds, the eighth and ninth specifically had the crowd at Millennium Stadium on their feet and in a fury over the action taking place in the ring.
The turnout may have been as beautiful as the fight itself on this night. For a sport that has become accustomed to seeing partially full arenas outside of Las Vegas and rude crowds in Vegas, it was a nice and almost magical thing to see a crowd of around 50,000 enthusiastic over a big title fight. This may be another example of boxing being more international a sport than an American sport in recent years.
The win for Calzaghe showed that even at 35, he is still the man in his weight class. The words of Bernard Hopkins towards Calzaghe now may be heard as Hopkins has challenged Calzaghe and named Yankee Stadium as a possible location. After this win, Calzaghe may in fact heed the challenge as he is now on top of his division having faced the toughest competition that he will more than likely get in the 168-pound division at this point.
This was a fight that boxing needs when looking at it in retrospect. Most people remember the big fights/games rather than the totality of a sport’s quality, and in the case of boxing, the big fights haven’t brought the goods. But as of late this has begun to change. Pavlik/Taylor did bring the goods in a very exciting brawl and Calzaghe/Kessler is continuing the trend of exciting big fights albeit in a different way. With Mayweather/Hatton, and Cotto/Mosley, boxing purists and fans can only hope that these two will continue the trend. If so, then a possible resurgence could be on the horizon.
My scorecard:
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
The judges agreed giving Calzaghe the decision with scores of 117-111, 116-112, and 116-112.
