photo by wende
Mikkel Kessler (45-2, 34 KOs) celebrated a spectacular debut at light heavyweight on Saturday night in Copenhagen when he knocked out Allan Green (31-4, 21 KOs) in the fourth round. Fighting in front of 15,000 wild fans at PARKEN Stadium, the Viking Warrior landed a huge left hook that sent his American opponent down and out and made Kessler the WBC Light Heavyweight Silver Champion. Green had a big first round, knocking Kessler down with a series of punches, but the 33-year-old Dane came back in style, finding his range and his target in the next rounds. In the fourth, he then ended the fight with one vicious left. “This was a great victory for me,” Kessler said. “I had to get rid of the ring rust in the first round. But once I got going, everything went according to plan. I am glad I could give my fans a spectacular victory. Their support was fantastic.”
Coach Jimmy Montoya praised Kessler´s power: “Mikkel has always had a lot of power in both hands. He prepared Green well to the body. He opened him up and then he caught him. And that was not a lucky punch.”
Kalle Sauerland was thrilled about Kessler´s performance. “This KO – and the way he set it up by hitting Green with body shots – showed that Mikkel is still at the very top of the sport,” the promoter stated. “I said before he needs to win and he needs to impress and today he delivered in impressive fashion. The people of Denmark can be very proud of their Viking Warrior. He has great fights coming up now.”
On the undercard, Patrick Nielsen improved to 15-0 (8 KOs) with a clear points victory over Gaetano Nespro, while Mateusz Masternak (27-0, 20 KOs) continued his unbeaten run with a clear points win over Hari Miles.
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
