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by Johnny Walker
Mikkel “The Viking Warrior” Kessler was in fine form tonight as he blasted Belfast’s Brian Magee with withering body punches to take the Irishman’s WBA super middleweight title in Herning, Denmark.
The first round was close, perhaps edged by Kessler, but ominously, the Dane began tentatively throwing punches to the Irishman’s midsection as the frame came to a close.
McGee came out firing with lefts as round two commenced, but was dropped by a hard shot to the stomach from Kessler. The Irishman showed great toughness by beating the count, but sensing that the finish line was near, Kessler poured it on with more body work, hurting the soon to ex-champion with every blow he landed. McGee again went down, and just barely survived the round.
Round three was academic, as a hard Kessler right to the body again put McGee down at 0:24 of the stanza, and referee Luis Pabon had seen enough. Mikkel Kessler was then declared the winner and new WBA super middleweight champion via TKO.
After winning his fifth world title tonight, Kessler (46-2, 35 KOs) now looks toward a rematch with IBF super middleweight king Carl “The Cobra” Froch early in 2013, possibly in the United Kingdom.
In 2010, Kessler defeated Froch in Denmark via UD in a tough fight that was part of the Super Six tournament eventually won by American Andre “Son of God” Ward.
