Calzaghe unifies super middleweight belts
\CARDIFF, Wales – Joe Calzaghe has been a world champion for more than 10 years and has not lost a fight for more than 17 years, since he was an 18-year-old amateur.
He showed why on Saturday as he added the WBA and WBC super middleweight belts to the WBO strap he already owned with a unanimous decision victory over Mikkel Kessler before a enthusiastic announced home crowd of 50,014 at Millennium Stadium.
Judges John Stewart and Massimo Barravecchio had it 116-112, or eight rounds to four, for Calzaghe. Californian Raul Caiz Sr. had it 117-111 for Calzaghe. Yahoo! Sports scored it 115-113 for the Welshman, giving him the final five rounds.
Kessler, the previously unbeaten Dane, was landing hard straight right hands and cracking Calzaghe with a right uppercut in the early rounds.
But Calzaghe, now 44-0, did what great champions do by adjusting and finding a way to win a fight he seemed destined to lose.
Calzaghe took the uppercut out of the game by the sixth round and by the ninth, had taken much of Kessler's offense away from him.
"He stopped my boxing,” said Kessler. “He was too difficult. When I threw punches, he was holding and it was difficult for me.”
After the 11th, Kessler's corner was irate and trainer Richard Olsen shouted at him, "You're not doing what we told you to do."
But much of that was because of Calzaghe, who began popping the jab with regularity and circling to slow Kessler's assault. Over the last third of the fight, Kessler simply appeared to be trying to land the home run right, which by that point Calzaghe was far too smart to be hit with.
Calzaghe, who won the title in 1997 when he knocked out highly regarded Chris Eubank, was on his feet dancing and smiling for most of the last rounds. His hands were clearly faster and he was in better condition, as he was able to throw far more punches in the decisive rounds.
The fight began slow, as neither man wanted to make a mistake. But Kessler slowly gained control by backing Calzaghe with the right, a powerful punch that several times seemed to stun Calzaghe.
Calzaghe, who has had a tendency to go down in his fight, showed a good chin as he was hit repeatedly in the early rounds with a blistering right uppercut.
But once Calzaghe found a way to neutralize the uppercut and force Kessler to back up, the fight completely changed and it was his night.
According to CompuBox, Calzaghe landed 285 of 1010 punches; Kessler 173 of 585.
