By Marcus Richardson: Mikkel Kessler (45-2, 34 KO’s) will be taking on WBA interim super middleweight champion Brian Magee (36-4-1, 25 KO’s) in a very winnable fight for Kessler on December 8th at the Boxen, in Herning, Denmark. It doesn’t get any easier than this for the 33-year-old Kessler. Magee, 37, is an okay fighter, but he was recently stopped by former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute by a 10th round TKO last year in March in a one-sided fight and that fight showed pretty clearly where Magee is in terms of talent.
Kessler should win this fight no problem and then be in a good position to take on the WBA regular super middleweight champion Karoly Balzsay at some point next year. Kessler probably won’t be all that eager to take on the WBA Super World super middleweight champion Andre Ward, but facing Balzsay will be good enough.
Magee had been on course to fight Andre Dirrell. However, it looks like the money offer from Kessler’s promoters were too good for Magee to waste time fighting Dirrell. The Kessler fight is the much bigger one and it’ll make a lot more money, especially if Kessler can sell out the Herning venue.
Kessler hasn’t been all that active since 2010. He’s fought only twice since beating Carl Froch in 2010 in the Super Six tournament. Kessler defeated Mehdi Bouadla last year, and then stopped Allan Green by a 4th round knockout in April of this year.
Kessler will have a big size, power and speed advantage over Magee on December 8th. If Kessler sits down on his punches like he did against Magee then he should be able to get Magee out of there at some point in the fight. Magee has a pretty good chin, but he showed vulnerability when taking body shots in his loss to Bute.