Saturday, November 03, 2007 Quijano: Thor’s day on Sunday By Jingo Quijano Last Round
THE Vikings, a fierce warrior race who terrorized and colonized territories in Europe between the 8th and 11th centuries revered and worshipped Thor, the Norse God of Thunder.
The mighty Thor possessed great strength, and he wielded the mythic hammer Mjolnir- which he used in summoning lightning bolts and battling giants.
The fourth working day of the week, Thursday, commemorates and honors him.
Tomorrow isn’t exactly Thor’s day, but WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler does not mind. He also doesn’t care that he’ll be in front of an expected crowd of more than 50,000 of Joe Calzaghe’s compatriots at Webley Stadium, Cardiff Wales, UK for their unification bout.
Just like how the ancient Vikings marauded and pillaged parts of England, the supremely confident Kessler who calls himself “The Viking Warrior”, figures that the hostile crowd won’t be much of a factor and he’ll be able to take away Calzaghe’s WBO world title.
INTEREST. Aside from our local European community who no doubt are quite interested in this fight, I have also received a lot of queries from several Last Rounders, some of them asking about television coverage.
It seems that this fight will not be shown locally (damn!), as the attention is focused on another equally compelling bout also scheduled for tomorrow- Rocky Juarez vs. Juan Manuel Marquez. (Tomorrow’s column will feature this fight)
STYLE MATCHUP. Weapons won’t be allowed in the fight, but just like the flame-haired Thor, Kessler will be bringing a hammer of a right hand into the fight. He boxes and moves well and relies on a long hard jab to set up his power punches.
Joe Calzaghe is a southpaw with busy hands. He likes to move forward and apply relentless pressure. His left straight is one of the best punches in boxing, rivaled only perhaps by Manny Pacquiao’s. I’d call it just about even in this department.
EXPERIENCE/FIGHT PEDIGREE. Kessler is 39-0 with 29 knockouts. Despite being the younger man at 28 years of age, he holds wins over some of the best that the division has to offer. Anthony Mundine (UD 12), Markus Beyer (KO3), Eric Lucas (TKO 10), and Librado Andrade (UD 12) who was a hot, undefeated prospect coming into the fight.
Calzahe is the longest reigning champion in boxing. He has held the WBO trinket since 1997 and is just a few wins shy of Rocky Marciano’s record of 49-0.
He’s fought almost every super middleweight brave enough to face him and counts Chris Eubank, Omar Sheika, Peter Manfredo Jr., Jeff Lacy, Mario Veit and Byron Mitchell as his victims.
Sven Ottke retired and gave up the IBF and WBA belts rather than face him, but his domination of Jeff Lacy catapulted him into the pound for pound rankings. I would have to give Joe the advantage here.
POWER. Both are undefeated knockout punchers but Kessler’s height advantage will give him more leverage on his blows.
SPEED. Despite being the older man, Joe Calzaghe hasn’t lost a step and he will be the faster man in the ring.
INTANGIBLES. This is where the younger man has an edge. With a lot more fights in his odometer, it has been suspected that Calzaghe could be ripe for the taking.
In his title-clinching bid, Kessler did pretty well against Beyer-also a southpaw- so Calzaghe won’t present much of a puzzle to him.
It will be close nip and tuck affair. I wouldn’t even rule out a stoppage due to head butts. Calzaghe has been involved in several in his career- intentional or not. But someone’s “0” has to go and the Last Round is picking the “Viking Warrior” over the “Pride of Wales.”
THE LAST ROUND. It’s on Trizhia Luarenze, lovely daughter of Jun and Mary May Seno, who joins the Christian world today. Cheers!
