Photo: Winfried Mausolf / SE
Team Sauerland today won the purse bid for WBA Super-Middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler´s mandatory defense against Gusmyl Perdomo with an offer of $2,114,000 (USD). General Manager Chris Meyer was pleased about the outcome. “We really wanted to promote Mikkel´s first fight as a member of our team,” he said. “We will announce the date and the venue soon.” Other bids were presented by Universum Box-Promotion and Team Palle. Possible dates and places of winning bid: September 12th in Herning, Denmark, or Flensburg, Germany. The mandatory defence against Perdomo will be the Viking Warrior´s last fight before participating in SHOWTIME’s groundbreaking “Super Six World Boxing Classic.”
During the course of the hotly-anticipated tournament, which stretches from October 2009 to May 2011, Kessler will battle out super-middleweight supremacy with the likes of WBC Super-Middleweight Champion Carl Froch, IBF Middleweight Champion Arthur Abraham, former undisputed World Champion Jermain Taylor, Olympic gold medal winner Andre Ward and top-ranked U.S. star Andre Dirrell. “Of course I want to take my WBA belt into the tournament,” Kessler said. “The fight against Perdomo is the last obstacle that I need to overcome. I will be prepared and I will be ready for him.”
It will be Kessler´s first fight since October 2008 when he knocked out Germany’s Danilo Haussler during a show that was also promoted by Team Sauerland. “I am happy to be back in the ring,” Kessler added. “It will mark the beginning of a long and successful cooperation with Team Sauerland.”
Kessler (41-1, 31 KOs) knows that Perdomo (16-2, 10 KOs) will be no push-over. “As the mandatory challenger he deserves to fight for the title,” added Kessler. “I will definitely not underestimate him.”
