Zero Hour In Denmark: WBA Champ Magee Faces Kessler

Tonight, Brian Magee, 36-4-1 (25), takes on the “Viking Warrior” Mikkel Kessler, 45-2 (34), in Denmark, in defence of his WBA Super Middleweight title at 168 lbs.

One has to admire Magee; over the years he has fought good, solid opponents and worked his way up the rankings the old fashioned way.

Few would have thought that after losses to Robin Reid in 2004, Vitali Tyspko in 2005, a stoppage against Carl Froch in 2006 and a draw against Tony Oakey in 2007, that he would go on to challenge Lucian Bute last year for the IBF belt, and be in the situation he is in now.

A tough, experienced southpaw with a 60% KO ratio, he can, and has, given some of the best super middles in the world, some really hard nights.

In 2011, when the chance came to fight Lucian Bute in Quebec, Canada for the IBF belt, he jumped at it. Albeit he was stopped in the tenth round, which looked to me like an unfair stoppage.

Magee had not been down and was still in the fight when Bute caught him with a lovely uppercut as Magee came inside, great shot. Magee fell on his hands and knees, and the referee just waved it off, no count, nothing (?). He still made Bute work hard.

Magee followed that loss up with a win over Jaime Barboza in San Jose, Costa Rica which earned him the interim WBA belt which he then successfully defended in Denmark against Rudy Markussen.

Kessler is slightly different in that, well, he’s better than anyone else Magee has faced, but in Kessler’s last fight, against Allan Green, he was dropped in the first and looked shaky, before rallying and knocking Green out cold in the fourth. This was a new element in Kessler’s make up; he could be hurt.

With only two losses in his career against the very best of the division, Andre Ward, who completely out boxed him and even bullied him a bit before it was stopped in the eleventh due to a cut above Kessler’s eye, caused by Ward’s head, that was worsening.

And, of course, Joe Calzaghe, who took Kessler’s undefeated crown and stripped him of his invincible aura back in 2007. Calzaghe was a southpaw, like Magee, unfortunately Kessler’s history shows that he doesn’t struggle with southpaws, just incredibly gifted fighters.

Does Magee fall into that category?

No.

Clearly, going into an opponent’s backyard doesn’t bother Magee as he has done it all before but Kessler is a special fighter, his boxing ability can be under-rated sometimes as he loves a good scrap and he’s very tough. I would love to see Magee’s hand raised at the end of it but the reality is that he will probably give Kessler another hard night’s work before being stopped late on in the fight.

On a sub note, didn’t Cotto look old last Saturday?

Perhaps the Cotto of the past has gone; it happens to every great fighter. A few years ago Cotto would have walked through Trout like he did with Judah. All credit to Trout though, he showed up and looked impressive…and totally nullified my analysis…the bastard!