Sakio Bika targeting anyone at 168

Sakio Bika says he's willing to fight anyone, and this is one of those times that given the fighter, I believe it.

"So many fighters here call out [Anthony] Mundine but the fact is they make a name here if they beat him, it won't even create a ripple in the US, and I say that with respect."

Bika became known to a worldwide audience when he won the hugely popular television reality show The Contender - and the $800,000 that accompanied the title.

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[Trainer David] Birchell is adamant Bika is among the world's leading super-middleweights and would love to see him fight Danish WBA champion Mikkel Kessler, Hungarian WBO champion Karoly Balzsay, Canadian IBF titleholder Lucian Bute or England's Carl Froch, who recently mugged Jermain Taylor in their duel for the WBC belt.

"The IBO doesn't have mandatory challenges," Birchell said. "I think his opponents know how good a fighter Bika is. The wors[t] thing Joe Calzaghe did was say Sakio was the toughest fight of his career … he may as well have told the world: fight this man at your peril."

A significant problem is that by winning The Contender, Bika became the property of its producers. The man behind the show, Jeff Wald, has tried to organise a bout between Bika and Mundine, but so far he hasn't been able to organise fights on the prestige US channels Showtime or HBO.

"That is where I want to fight," Bika said. "But I have to get active. I am open to fight anyone. "I have asked Kessler for a fight but he says we are friends, we can't fight. I think we can."

I particularly love that last line -- that's Sakio Bika in a nutshell. Frankly speaking, he deserves better, but anyone relying on "The Contender" to make them a superstar is sadly buying the Jeff Wald selling point hook, line and sinker. Nobody from that show has become a big star, and Bika was an avoided fighter before he won season three in spectacular fashion.

To be fair, I also feel it's worth noting that Calzaghe called Bika "a horrible, dirty fighter."