Thanks: 
Likes: 
Dislikes: 
While everyone else who is wondering who would win Calzaghe vs. Kessler, Sakio B
http://www.secondsout.com/news/index.cfm?ccs=534&cs=21790While everyone else who is wondering who would win Calzaghe vs. Kessler, Sakio Bika knows
By Paul Upham: While there is direct interest in Joe Calzaghe’s WBO super middleweight world title defence against American Peter Manfredo Jr tonight at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, the question on most people’s minds is who would win if the Welshman faced Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler, who owns the WBC and WBA titles, for the right to call themselves the undisputed super middleweight boxing champion of the world.
While everyone else can speculate from the outside looking at the match-up of undefeated boxers, after going twelve rounds with 35 year-old Calzaghe 42-0 (31) in October 2006 and sparring with 28 year-old Kessler 39-0 (29) last month, Cameroon strongman Sakio “The Scorpion” Bika says he knows who would win.
“Mikkel is a very strong puncher. He throws lots of combinations. For that fight with Calzaghe, I think Kessler will win,” Bika told SecondsOut. “His better combinations and power will be the difference. If Calzaghe just boxes and runs against Kessler, I’m not sure that he can run for twelve rounds and still win the fight. Kessler has excellent footwork, which will let him cut the ring off and make it hard for Calzaghe. If Kessler fights like the way he did against Librado Andrade, maybe he can even stop Joe Calzaghe.”
27 year-old Bika 22-2-2 (14) spent three weeks sparring with Kessler, helping him prepare for his dominate March 24 points win over Mexican Librado Andrade in Copenhagen.
“Kessler punches harder than Calzaghe,” he said. “Calzaghe is fast, he moves and as a southpaw, is hard to hit. Kessler has the conditioning to match Calzaghe’s movement and I think he has many punches he can put together that can hurt Calzaghe. It would be a very good fight. But if I were going to be betting my own money, I would definitely be on Kessler to stop him.”
While being impressed from what he experienced first hand inside the boxing ring, Bika also noted the dedication Kessler showed to his training and the way he conducted himself outside the gym.
“It was a good experience for me,” he explained. “I saw him fight Andrade and got to spar him and train alongside him. Mikkel Kessler trains very hard. He spars hard. There was no playing around. It was good training. I did a lot of sparring with Kessler. We would spar in the morning around 10am. Then we would run together at night. We were sparring four to five times a week. I strained my elbow one day and he and his team really looked after me very well. Mikkel showed me good respect. They were happy with the sparring I gave him and they all thanked me for helping to get him ready for the Andrade fight.
“Mikkel is a very good man. I have never met him before, but he was the best. To win two world titles, he is still a gentleman and very easy going. The way he greets you with respect. He is a world champion but he doesn’t have a big head.”
While they developed a mutual respect as professionals, Bika didn’t refrain from telling Kessler, before he left Denmark to head back home to Australia, that he still wanted a fight with him one day.
“I told Kessler and his team that one day I want a shot,” he said. “Of course, I want to fight him. My goal now is to fight for the IBF world title and when I win, maybe we can have a unification bout.”
To help him to his goal of challenging new IBF super middleweight world champion Alejandro Berrio 26-4 (25), Bika has signed a contract to face undefeated Lucian Bute 19-0 (16), rated IBF No.3 on June 15 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
“All I know about him is that he has is a tall southpaw who has never lost and he is originally from Romania and he is now fighting out of Canada,” said Bika. “When I was in Denmark I spoke with Lolenga Mock, who fought him in May 2006, so I have an idea on what he will be like.”
The last twelve months has been very busy for Bika, who has crammed in world title fights with Markus Beyer and Joe Calzaghe which got him European and American television exposure, sparring with Mikkel Kessler and wins over Andre Thysse and Dechapon Suwunnalird.
“When I win this IBF title eliminator with Bute, there is a good chance that I can fight for the IBF world title,” he said. “It has been a very busy time for me, but I have learned so much, especially my time training in Denmark with Kessler and I feel that I am ready to win a world title in 2007.”
Paul Upham
Contributing Editor
 |
|
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by miles
Bookmarks