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Showtime has officially announced that they will be televising the November 5 fight between WBO super middleweight titlist Robert Stieglitz and Mikkel Kessler from Denmark, on same-day delay that evening, paired with their live fight between IBF titlist Lucian Bute and Glen Johnson.
Both fighters are confident ahead of the bout, which will be held at Copenhagen's PARKEN Stadium.
"I have a lot of respect for Kessler but he will not take my crown away from me," said Stieglitz. "It may be that he is a national hero in Denmark, such as Karoly Balzsay was in Hungary, but I travelled there, defeated him and became world champion. The home advantage did not help Balzsay at all and it will not help Mikkel Kessler either. I will defend my title."
"I look forward to be fighting on SHOWTIME again," said Kessler. "I want to show the fans in the U.S. that I am the world´s best super-middleweight. After my successful comeback in June, the next step is to become world champion for a fourth time. The fight against Robert Stieglitz will be exciting. He is technically very strong and he deserves to be holding that belt, but I think that I am better and that I will take the title away from him. It will be a great night of boxing with my passionate Danish fans raising the roof at world-famous PARKEN Stadium."
Kessler (44-2, 33 KO) is the challenger, but is also the favorite in the bout, and has a bigger reputation worldwide. Stieglitz (40-2, 23 KO) was last seen on U.S. television losing to Librado Andrade in 2008. Since then, the German has gone 9-0 and claimed a major title.