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Showtime ShoBox Recap Part 1

 

September 12, 2009

MCH Messecenter-Herning, Denmark

 

 

 

This is part 1 of a 2 part recap of a special ShoBox designed to showcase 2 boxers that will face off on November 21 in the opening round of Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic to crown an undisputed champion at 168 pounds. This part features Mikkel Kessler on same day tape delay. Part 2 features Andre Ward facing Shelby Pudwill live from Temecula, California.

 

Al Bernstein is filling in as the play-by-play commentator for this event for Nick Charles. Charles, who has been ShoBox' play-by-play announcer since the series inception, is on indefinite medical leave to receive treatment for cancer. ShoBox' usual color commentator Steve Farhood is still working this event. There will also be a second color commentator working this event for Showtime, Antonio Tarver. The Showtime commentators will be calling this match via satellite off a monitor in California, and will be live ringside in Temecula.

 

 

WBA Super Middleweight (168 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Mikkel Kessler (41-1, 31 KO's, 167.5 pounds) (c) vs. Gusmyr Perdomo (16-2, 10 KO's, 167.25 pounds)

 

 

Kessler won this title when it was vacant via knockout at 2:00 of round 12 over Dimitri Sartison on June 21, 2008 at Brondby hallen in Copenhagen, Denmark. The title had been previously held by Joe Calzaghe, who vacated the belt to become the undisputed champion at 175 pounds. Kessler is making the second defense of his title in this match.

 

Kessler had a strong amateur boxing career that peaked when at 16-years old he won the gold medal at the European Youth Championships.

 

The last time Kessler was on television in the United States, he was dealt the only loss of his professional career. On November 3, 2007 in front of the largest indoor boxing crowd in European history (50,000 people) Joe Calzaghe defeated Kessler via 12-round unanimous decision at Millennium Stadium, a rugby stadium that was converted to a boxing arena for the mega-event, in Cardiff, Wales. Kessler was seen entering the match as the young lion set to end Calzaghe's more then 10-year reign atop the 168-pound division and begin his own long era of dominance in the weight class. So many people traveled to see this clash of generations that the event generated an estimated $20 million in tourism money for the local economy. In the match, Calzaghe showed he was not ready to give up his thrown. Kessler landed hard power punches that the Welshman seem unaffected by and relentlessly pressured Kessler. In the final rounds, Kessler was exhausted from the quick pace that both boxers had wanted to box at in the early rounds. Unfortunately for the Dane, Calzaghe was still fresh and not even sitting on his stool in between rounds. A full recap of it can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/11/7/recap-of-calzaghe-vs-mikkel-kessler.html

 

Kessler's last match was a knockout victory 1:08 into round 3 over Danilo Haussler on October 25, 2008 at Weser-Ems-Halle in Oldenburg, Germany. The Dane has been out of action for the last 10 months since that match with promotional issues. That is why he is taking this mandatory title defense. The rules of the Super Six Boxing Classic prohibit participants from making mandatory title defenses outside of the tournament, once the tournament begins. That means Kessler will probably be stripped of this title even if he keeps winning by the time the tournament concludes. Therefore, Kessler is simply taking this match as a low risk tune-up match.

 

Kessler is The Ring magazine's number 1 contender to their vacant championship at 168 pounds.

 

Perdomo is considered a completely undeserving mandatory challenger. He has no victories against top rated competition and has never been in a 12-round match. As a positive, Perdomo should be a good tune-up opponent, because the Venezuelan has never been knocked down. That should force Kessler to put in several rounds to work off the ring-rust. Perdomo's 2 losses were both via decision. His first loss came via 8-round majority decision to Mario Veit on October 10, 2005 at Brandberge Arena in Halle an der Saale, Germany. The Venezuelan's other loss came via unanimous decision to Dimitri Sartison on September 7, 2007 at Burg-Waechter Castello in Dusseldorf, Germany.

 

Perdomo's last match was a technical knockout victory over Laurent Goury at 2:11 of round 4 in a scheduled 8-rounder on November 15, 2008 at Burg-Waechter Castello. To earn this title shot Perdomo dominated Goury, who missed weight by 2.75 pounds and was 3-14 in his last 17 matches.

 

Perdomo is unranked by The Ring, and ranked by boxrec.com as the number 33 boxer in the world at 168 pounds by boxrec.com.

 

At 30-years old, Kessler is 3 years younger then the 33-year-old Perdomo. Perdomo has the height advantage standing 6' 2" tall, while Kessler stands, 6' 1" tall. The challenger has the reach advantage with a 73.5" wingspan, compared to the 73" wingspan of Kessler. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, Kessler is a huge 168-pounder that has historically struggled to make the weight limit. That makes it likely that the champion will be the heavier boxer in the ring. Kessler will employ the orthodox stance and Perdomo will box out of the southpaw stance.

 

A modified version of the unified rules of boxing are in effect for this match. The 2 key differences are that both the referee and doctor can stop the match and that the 3 knockdown rule is in effect. The home areas of the judges keeping score of this match from ringside are not announced. The referee is Russell Mora.

 

The busier Perdomo wins round 1, 10-9. There was some horrific camera work in round 1. Boxing matches are usually shot almost exclusively from the hard camera, with only replays using the other cameras. However, this event is using the Danish feed and this director appears to think he is Michael Bay. There seemed to be a jump-cut every 10 seconds. That made the match hard to follow. Making the match more difficult to watch, the boxers kept falling out of frame of the zoomed-in alternative camera shots. There were literally 4 jump-cuts in the first 22 seconds of round 2. Perdomo is once again the more active boxer in round 2, which is why he wins the round, 10-9. There are 5 jump-cuts in the first 22 seconds of round 3. This could make a great drinking game, but it could lead to alcohol poisoning before the end of the match. These constant jump cuts are making it impossible to accurately score this match off television, since it is causing much of the action to be missed. With 1:18 to go in round 3, the referee pauses the action to give Perdomo a stern warning for low blows. Perdomo has already thrown numerous low blows in this match, but the referee is probably going to give the challenger some more leeway this early in the match. A chopping right hand drops Perdomo with 20 seconds to go in round 3. That was the first time Perdomo has been knocked down in his professional boxing career. A replay after round 3 shows the right hand that knocked Perdomo down landed on the challenger's left shoulder. It was impossible to know that definitively during the round, because the camera angle did not show the punch land. Perdomo is up quickly and satisfactorily answers the referee's count to continue with only 6 seconds to go in round 3. The knockdown gives Kessler round 3, 10-8, and makes the match even on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 28-28. After round 3, there is some blood coming from Kessler's nose.

 

Once again, there are 5 jump-cuts in the opening 22 seconds of round 4. This director might be getting paid by the jump-cut. Kessler lands a combination that has Perdomo hurt and trapped against the ropes forcing the referee to move in and stop this contest with 2:09 to go in round 4. The announcers think the stoppage may have been a little quick. However, watching on replay it looks like the referee moved in at the perfect time. The referee was able to look into the boxer's eyes and see he was out on his feet. In fact when the referee moved in to grab Perdomo following the stoppage, the Venezuelan fell to the canvas.

 

The official outcome is that: at 56 (or 51, it was announced as 56, but boxrec.com has it officially listed as 51) seconds of round 4 the referee has stopped the match, making the winner via technical and still WBA Super Middleweight Champion of the World, "The Viking Warrior" Mikkel Kessler. The win moves Kessler to 42-1 with now 32 wins coming by way of knockout.

 

Kessler said in his post-match interview that he could not figure Perdomo out initially. Then the champion simply decided to apply pressure starting in round 3. That strategy worked really well. Kessler did not really cut a promo on Andre Ward ahead of their expected November 21 match, but it is always enjoyable to listen to Kessler talk. That is because he sounds like California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in his Kindergarten Cop days.

 

The Dane showed himself to be the best 168-pounder in the world in this match. Kessler had some early ring-rust, but shook it off quickly to score a decisive knockout. He should enter the Super Six World Boxing Classic as the heavy favorite and still appears to be the boxer that will take Calzaghe's place as the king of the 168-pound division. It will just be a few years later then initially anticipated, and not at the expense of the Welshman.

 

Perdomo was better then expected in this match. That said, Perdomo does not appear to be a top level boxer in this division. He has minimal power, but is a difficult match up due to his awkward southpaw stance. With much of the divisions elite tied up in the Super Six for the next 18 months it will be very hard for the aging Perdomo to get quality matches. He is going to have to play the part of opponent to whatever boxer will pay the best to get out of the sport quickly, because he is already 33-years old.

 

 

 

The nausea inducing camera work make this part of the show one to avoid. The camera work the last time Kessler boxed on American television, against Librado Andrade was completely different. It was shot the way boxing matches are normally filmed. The thought this same director may get control of at least 2 more Kessler matches in the Super Six is enough to cause nightmares.

 

 

 

News and Notes: Following the last recap, Tavoris Cloud has taken Clinton Woods spot as The Ring's number 7 contender to their vacant championship at 175 pounds. Woods has dropped entirely out of The Ring rankings following his loss to Cloud. Randall Bailey announced he will be moving up to 147 pounds following his knockout loss to Juan Urango. Bailey thinks he will have more knockout power at the higher weight class. On the surface, this sounds like a bad move. Many of the titleholders and top ranked boxers at 140 pounds have a history of being knocked out. At 147 pounds, none of the active top ranked boxers have ever suffered a legitimate knockout loss.

 

Speaking of top 140-pounders, Timothy Bradley will headline the final Showtime Championship Boxing event of the year against Lamont Peterson on December 5.

 

Showtime has announced another event for October 31. The main event will be Jospeh Agbeko defending his 118-pound title against mandatory challenger Yonnhy Perez. The televised undercard will be a 135-pound match between Antonio DeMarco and Jose Alfaro.

 

Zab Judah has pulled out of his scheduled match with Antonio Diaz on the undercard of next week's Floyd Mayweather, Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez PPV. There was no reason given for Judah pulling out at the last minute. It appears Diaz is going to stay on the card against a late replacement, to not punish him for whatever happened to Judah.

 

John Ruiz has accepted a deal to step aside as Nikolai Valuev' mandatory challenger. That will allow Valuev to defend his heavyweight title against David Haye on November 7. For stepping aside, Ruiz will get a 10-round match on the undercard of Valuev-Haye with a guaranteed shot at the winner.

 

Finally, the one boxer to defeat Kessler, Joe Calzaghe, has signed a deal with the BBC to officially compete 1 more time. However, this time it will not be in boxing. Calzaghe is going to be a cast member on season 7 of the reality show Strictly Come Dancing which is essentially the same as the show Dancing with the Stars that Mayweather and Evander Holyfield were cast members on that airs on ABC in the United States.

 

 

 

The next recap will come out tomorrow covering the live portion of this event featuring Andre Ward vs. Shelby Pudwill. 

 

 

 

Sincerely,