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Boxing

Calzaghe, Kessler head-to-head

03/11/2007

Joe Calzaghe and Mikkel Kessler went head-to-head at their weigh-in ahead of their super middleweight unification bout in Cardiff tonight.

The two men had to be pulled apart as they went head-to-head for some publicity photos which at one stage looked like turning into a skirmish.

"I thought he was uncomfortable," said Calzaghe.

"Believe me, he'll be thinking about it. It's all pally in the build up, but playtime is over."

The Welshman weighed-in one pound under the 12-stone limit while Kessler was forced to strip to meet the same weight restriction.

Although Calzaghe felt he had gained the upper hand psychologically following the weigh-in the Newbridge fighter knows he is in for a tough examination from the Dane.

He said: "This guy is dangerous, this is the sort of fight where you have to have respect for your opponent and get his respect from the start.

"It's going to be a hard fight. I think at times you will see a boxing match and a war as well. It will be a mixture of the two."

Kessler's agent, Mike Marley, claimed that the Dane would not fold like a number of Calzaghe's former opponents to whom he was likened by the Welshman's camp earlier in the week.

"He isn't Tocker Pudwill, he isn't Will McIntyre, he isn't Kabaray Salem, he isn't Sakio Bika," insisted Marley.

The American promoter claims that Calzaghe's time as champion is coming to and end and that Kessler will become the dominant force in the division.