Warren:Calzaghe vs Kessler November 3rd in Cardiff

[ICB]

Hope it comes off. One of the biggest fights in boxing today. Love to see the winner fight Mundine in front of 50,000 at Sydney's Telstra Stadium.
Mundine would be a heavy underdog but who knows? He's getting better and faster all the time.

I doubt the winner would even bother with Mundine.

[WelshDevilRob]

Warren accuses Millennium Stadium of "greed" in negotiations


Joe Calzaghe's proposed unification bout with Mikkel Kessler is likely to take place on 1 November in Britain. But the venue is in doubt as Calzaghe's promoter, Frank Warren, has accused the Millennium Stadium of "greed" in negotiations to stage the fight there.

"I'm quite angry, I wasn't too pleased at how negotiations are going," Warren told BBC Radio Wales' Sportstime.

Welsh Rugby Union group chief executive Roger Lewis has denied this, saying any deal should mirror the previous fight.

Welshman Calzaghe, 35, attracted a European indoor record crowd of 35,000 for his 20th defence of the WBO super middleweight title against Peter Manfredo Jr at the Millennium Stadium in April.

Manfredo Jr, famous for being the runner-up in the first US series of boxing reality TV show 'The Contender', was beaten inside three rounds.

But 28-year-old Dane Kessler, like Calzaghe unbeaten in his professional career, holds the WBA and WBC versions of the super middleweight title and is a truly dangerous opponent.

"This is a much, much bigger fight, you've got two guys who hold three versions of the world super middleweight belt," Warren said. "Kessler has agreed to come over here, so we're looking to promote the fight in the UK."

"At the moment we're negotiating with the Millennium Stadium, but they're asking for a bit more money than we want to pay. I hope they're not going to be difficult and cause the fight to go somewhere else."

"Of course we don't expect the Millennium to do it for nothing, but they make a lot of money from the concessions, the bar and so forth. What they want is like asking a pop band playing there for a percentage of their record sales."

"It's greed, that's what it is. It's not a cheap venue to hire, it's very expensive - it comes to hundreds of thousands of pounds to put these events on."

However, Lewis says that Warren is seeking to pay a sum for the use of Wales' national stadium that is less than the total paid for the Manfredo fight.

"The starting point must be the deal that we had last time, not less. We can't go below that - it's a fair deal for the fans, it's a fair deal for Wales," Lewis told the BBC.

"The Manfredo fight was a great evening, a momentous event, not only for the stadium and for Wales, but also for the global sport of boxing."

Warren says he would prefer to stage the fight in Wales in front of Newbridge man Calzaghe's home crowd.

But the promoter says he is prepared to take the fight elsewhere, although he does admit he needs an enclosed venue because of likely weather conditions in November.

"Joe is Wales' national sporting hero and this is a fight that should be in Wales," Warren added. "We could still go to Denmark or we could put it on in London, but that's not what it's all about.

"They (Kessler and his promoter Mogens Palle) wanted the fight in Denmark, but they believed there was a huge amount of money from American TV.

"But that's not been the case as American TV has run out of money at the moment, but in some ways that's good for us as we can get the fight on over here."
Source: BoxingBanter

[Trainer Monkey]

"As The Calzeghe-Kessler Fight Turns"

[WelshDevilRob]

Typical Warren trying to pay less than last time and for a bigger fight.

[littlebif]

Starting to think this fight wasnt gonna happen havent heard out about it for a while till now.

If Hatton fights on november 10th the 2 best boxers in UK fight with in a week carnt wait till it all get finalized!

[sexydarin]

i'll believe it after the fight is finished