Mikkel Kessler is banking on youth to overcome Joe Calzaghe's experience and hometown support in Saturday's bout to decide the best super-middleweight fighter in the world.
The 28-year-old Kessler (39-0) will put his WBA and WBC titles on the line against the WBO belt of Calzaghe (43-0), and says his seven-year advantage could be a deciding factor at Millennium Stadium.
"I'm young and fresh and my career has gone so well up to this point," the Dane said on Wednesday. "It is a dream come true and a big step up for me. We are two unbeaten champions and it is going to be a great fight."
Calzaghe has defended his title 21 times since winning it from Chris Eubank 10 years ago. Kessler, who has been a world champion for three years, was asked what were Calzaghe's weaknesses.
age
"His age," Kessler said. "Joe's a great fighter and a gentleman. He has always kept himself in good shape and looked good in his last fights. He is a great fighter and I know we will have a great, hard fight."
Kessler will also have to contend with 50,000 Welsh fans cheering for Calzaghe inside a cavernous rugby stadium that will have its roof closed.
unfazed
"I know the crowd will be against me and I would have loved to have the fight in Denmark," Kessler said. "But I'm not afraid to fight outside my home country and I have done it before."
"It's always a goal to get outside your own country and get people from all around the world to know you and know your fights, and this fight is going to be shown in many countries," he said.
The fight is scheduled to start at about 1:30am on Sunday for the benefit of live screening in the US on HBO.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched