CALZAGHE UNIFIE WBA, WBC, WBO

In an all-action fight, undefeated WBO/The Ring magazine super middleweight champion JOE CALZAGHE became undefeated WBC/WBA/WBO/The Ring magazine super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe, successfully defending his world title for a division-best 21st consecutive time, defeating Danish buzzsaw Mikkel Kessler, the defending WBC/WBA champion, by unanimous decision. Fought before a European indoor record 50,150 screaming fans at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, the event lived up to its hype as arguably the biggest world title unification showdown of non-heavyweight champions since the Sugar Ray Leonard-Tommy Hearns welterweight rumble of 1981..

It was all power and all skill as Joltin' Joe put in a vintage performance out-throwing and out-landing a very game Kessler (39-1, 29 KOs), from Copenhagen, Denmark, who tasted defeat for the first time as a professional. Calzaghe was very aggressive from the opening bell but both fighters were very accurate and sharp. Calzaghe had a very good round three, dropping his hands and using his speed to land straight lefts against Kessler. Kessler landed two excellent uppercuts in round four. Calzaghe started to take control in rounds five and six with the famous boxing skills that have made him a champion for over a decade. In the seventh, Kessler had his best round since round four, landing several hard shots although Calzaghe threw over 100 punches. Kessler was very aggressive in the eighth, trying to turn the tide, but Calzaghe came on at the end of the round. Calzaghe continued to outbox Kessler in round nine. The fighters went toe-to-toe in a very exciting round ten, but Calzaghe seemed to have more in the tank. Calzaghe continued to blunt the desperate attacks of Kessler over the final two rounds to win by scores of 117-111, 116-112, 116-112.

Having held the WBO title since October 11, 1997 -- tops among active world champions -- Calzaghe (44-0, 32 KOs), from Newbridge, Wales, is now tied with super middleweight champion Sven Ottke at fourth place on boxing's all-time list behind heavyweight champion Joe Louis (25), light heavyweight champion Dariusz Michalczewski (23) and strawweight champion Ricardo López (23) .  Source_Eastsideboxing.om & Fightnews.com_ November 3, 2007