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Mikkel Kessler officially signs with Sauerland, Showtime tourney a go

WBA super middleweight titlist Mikkel Kessler is freed from the grips of Mogens Palle, and has signed with Sauerland Event. This may put the final touches on Showtime's massive super middleweight tournament.

WBA super middleweight titlist Mikkel Kessler is freed from the grips of Mogens Palle, and has signed with Sauerland Event. This may put the final touches on Showtime's massive super middleweight tournament.

Sauerland Event sent out a press release today, making official their rumored signing of super middleweight titlist Mikkel Kessler, a move that Kalle Sauerland told reporters makes the Showtime 168-pound tournament good to go. Sauerland says his new star is headed to the United States for the July 13 press conference.

This is really, really big news all around. Kessler career's has been stop-and-go since his loss to Joe Calzaghe, and at this point it had become nothing but "stop." His feud with his old promotes, the Palles, had become a Cold War of sorts. He was fighting iffy mandatories and really nothing more. For a man who tested Calzaghe as much as just about anyone ever did, it was a shame to watch him not get the chance to truly inherit Calzaghe's throne as the king of the super middleweights.

If (yes, if) the Showtime tournament is truly on, the first three matchups will be:

October: Arthur Abraham v. Jermain Taylor

October: Carl Froch v. Andre Dirrell

November: Mikkel Kessler v. Andre Ward

Kessler also has a mandatory in place against Gusmyl Perdomo, and may try to get that out of the way. Dan Rafael says that since their July 3 date to come up with a deal has passed, the WBA is expected to order a purse bid on Kessler-Perdomo soon. I'd almost prefer Kessler give up the title and not risk even a cut or anything, but fighters do care about those belts even if many of us do not. Sauerland's Chris Meyer says that Kessler does plan to fight Perdomo and then go to the tournament. If they can get a deal sorted out for an August date, there really shouldn't be a problem. Even early September would likely suffice. Perdomo, honestly, is no match for Kessler and the fight is kind of ridiculous.

All in all, this is good news for everyone. Kessler is out from under the clutches of Mogens Palle, who seemed intent on doing nothing more than wrecking the fighter's career, and I don't say that to make Palle sound evil or anything, it's just how it was playing out. The tournament -- which I think is the biggest advancement in boxing promotion in decades, literally -- looks good to go. Nothing bad here.

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Great news! I needed it. Seems like I haven’t had a nice sustained dose of good boxing in a while now.

Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"

by Matt Miller on Jul 9, 2009 5:39 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

this looks great

I’m really interested to see what Kessler can do against these guys.

-Brian

by bp on Jul 9, 2009 9:53 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

I'm skeptical that it's over until I hear something from Palle

Kessler’s take all along was that he was a free agent, and he was litigating that. Until Palle settles, the question of whether he’s actually allowed to sign elsewhere is up in the air.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Jul 9, 2009 10:22 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Wow..

I really can’t wait to see these fights should be fantastic

by MannyPacquiao on Jul 9, 2009 11:25 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

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