Quote Originally Posted by bzkfn
I know, but he's only WBA Champ because WBA made Kessler super champ thus freeing the belt up. So technically, Kessler is really the WBA champ and already has the belt. WBA are stupid and confusing.
Obviously Mundine's title means very little to Kessler, but it does make him the designated mandatory. So if Kessler wants to retain his WBA (Super champ) title, he will have to meet Mundine eventually. If unification against Calzaghe or a big match against Taylor (or the winner of Hopkins-Wright) fails to come together, then it actually makes sense to get the mandatory out of the way now.

(I dunno what the time limit for meeting Mundine is. The WBA website states that super champs have 18 months to defend the title, but whether that means from the time Kessler became super champ (october 06) or from the time he last made a mandatory defense of the belt (january 06) seems unclear. If the latter happens to be the case, Kessler should actually meet Mundine next month!).

Anyway if the big figts dont materialize I would be happy with Kessler defending against Mundine at home in september and then he should go after the IBF title by the end of the year, preferably fighting for it on a major American undercard. By that time I expect Bute to hold the title and Kessler beating an undefeated Bute in North America, then holding 3 alphabelt titles... well, Kessler could be in line for a very lucrative 2008.