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Calzaghe plans super middleweight exit

14/07/2007

WBO super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe has set his sights on adding Mikkel Kessler's WBA and WBC crowns to his collection before stepping out of the division.

It was announced earlier this week that the pair will meet in front of a partisan Millennium Stadium crowd on November 3rd in a long-awaited clash between the two dominant 168lb fighters.

However the 35-year-old Calzaghe realises that victory over the Dane would mean he would need to consider moving up to light heavyweight to continue to challenge himself.

"By beating Kessler I should be recognised as maybe the best super middleweight of all time. I'd have all the belts and I'd have beaten the best fighter out there, so what else could I achieve at super middleweight?" he said.

But the Newbridge puncher admits that before he can set his sights on a possible challenge to the American Bernard Hopkins he will have to be at his best to overcome Kessler.

"This guy I have to fight. Make no mistake, Kessler is the hardest opponent out there for me," he said.

"He's 28, he's got two world title belts, he's a hungry lion and he wants to be the main man."

The clash will represent a significant step up in class from Calzaghe's previous outing which saw him batter his way to a third-round win over Peter Manfredo Junior.

Kessler has an unblemished record of 39 straight professional wins, with 29 produced by knockout, while Calzaghe, also unbeaten, has 43 wins to his name.

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