Boxing Wba

Denmark's WBA champion, Mikkel Kessler, is considered boxing's premier 168-pounder -- and for good reason.

And it is among those same reasons why the 30-year-old "Viking Warrior" is favored to take down 25-year-old former Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward in defense of his title on Saturday night at Oracle Arena.

"Mikkel Kessler's just been in with a higher quality of opponent. And Kessler's been involved with more big fights, fighting, more or less, for 12 rounds since Andre Ward has been a professional boxer," said Doug Fischer, co-editor of RingTV.com. "And now he's fighting in Andre Ward's hometown of Oakland, Calif., which is going to be nothing new to him."

Manny Pacquiao's historic, 12th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto, whom he dethroned as WBO welterweight champ for a record, seventh title in as many weight classes on Saturday night, has generated 1.25 million buys, according to official records released to FanHouse by Mark Taffet, HBO's senior vice president of pay per view.

Along with Floyd Mayweather's Sept. 19, unanimous decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez, which resulted in 1.05 million buys, this year represents the first time HBO pay per view has ever recorded back-to-back fights exceeding a million buys, Taffet indicated in Friday's e-mail.

Pacquiao-Cotto also marks the first time since 1999 that two, pay per view boxing events have totaled more than a million purchases, joining Felix Trinidad's controversial decision over Oscar De La Hoya, and, Lennox Lewis' disputed draw with Evander Holyfield.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said that the early pay-per-view numbers released on Manny Pacquiao's victory over Miguel Cotto are "over a million and under 1.5 million buys -- and that's without all of the precincts being reported."

"They're not really accurate yet, but all that we can say with absolute certainty is that Pacquiao-Cotto was the biggest, revenue-producing event on pay-per-view for the entire year," said Arum. "And that surpasses all of the UFC. Everything. Any event. It's the biggest event of the year from the standpoint of revenue being generated."

Arum, who promotes Pacquiao (50-3-2, 37 knockouts), said that he met with officials at HBO on Thursday concerning the numbers.

One of the two California judges initially chosen to work Saturday night's 168-pound bout between Denmark's WBA king Mikkel Kessler and challenger Andre Ward has been replaced with a Swedish official, quelling a controversy that had threatened the fight's championship status.

Kessler's promoter, Wilfried Sauerland, said on Wednesday that the WBA had threatened not to sanction Kessler-Ward as a super middleweight title matchup because the referee, Jack Riesse, and at least two of the three judges assigned were from California.

That was in violation of the rules regarding the matchup -- part of Showtime's Super Six Super Middleweight World Boxing Classic -- wherein, at least two judges and the referee were to be from neutral territories, in accordance with contracts signed by each of the tournament's six fighters regarding the nationalities of the officials.

But Ward's promoter, Dan Goossen, said the commission has removed one California judge in favor of Sweden's Mikael Hook, who will work the fight along with South Africa's Stanley Christodoulou and California's Steve Morrow.

Noted boxing historian Bert Sugar believes that a clash between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao would rival Sugar Ray Leonard's comeback 14th-round knockout of Thomas Hearns in September 1981, when the victor trailed by four, three and two points, respectively, on the three judges' cards.

Calling it "today's Super Bowl of boxing," Sugar said the demand and scope of Mayweather-Pacquio "easily passes" Felix Trinidad's controversial September 1999, 12-round majority decision over Oscar De La Hoya, even as theirs was a clash of a Puerto Rican icon in Trinidad and a cross-over Mexican-American star in De La Hoya.

"[Mayweather-Pacquiao] has international appeal, particularly in Asia. And you've got HBO, which will be pumping it with their 24/7 series. It will be the fight of the century," said Sugar, who, as then-editor of Ring Magazine, named Leonard-Hearns "Fight Of The Year."

A problem has developed concerning Saturday's 168-pound WBA title fight between champion Mikkel Kessler of Denmark and Andre Ward, the third bout of Showtime's Super Six Super Middleweight World Boxing Classic that is being fought at the Oracle Arena in the challenger's hometown of Oakland, Calif.

At least two judges and the referee for each matchup are to be from neutral territories, in accordance with contracts signed by each of the tournament's six fighters regarding the nationalities of the officials.

But during a press conference yesterday at Oakland's City Hall, Kessler's promoter, Wilfried Sauerland, said that the referee, Jack Riesse, and at least two of the three judges selected for the fight are from California, along with South African judge, Stanley Christodoulou, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Don't wish Bernard Hopkins success, wish him failure.

Specifically, tell the 44-year-old boxer that he's so far past his prime, that you believe he'll lose on Dec. 2 to unheralded 29-year-old Enrique Ornelas, the man he will meet in a non-title, 12-round light heavyweight (175 pounds) bout at Temple University's Liacouras Center in Hopkins' hometown of Philadelphia.

"People have written me off a lot of times in my life, and that's been my biggest motivation. I've always needed people to be rooting against me," said Hopkins, a former Philadelphia street criminal who survived three stabbings, was imprisoned at age 18 for five years, and released in 1988.

"I did not let the street life destroy me. I'm that throwback Philadephia fighter who just happened to take care of himself, and that's why I'm still here," said Hopkins, who is 49-5, with 32 knockouts.

Denmark's WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler will meet former Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward on Saturday night in what shapes up as a clash of similar styles, even as it is a battle of Ward's youth against Kessler's experience.

Both the 30-year-old Kessler (42-1, 32 knockouts) and the 25-year-old Ward (20-0, 13 KOs) are considered excellent athletes whose arsenals include comparable speed as well as solid chins, stamina and general boxing skills.

FanHouse sought the opinions of 10 boxing experts for their predictions on the 168-pound matchup. See the results after the jump.

Denmark's Mikkel Kessler has more than twice as many fights -- and wins -- as Andre Ward.

The champion has more than three times as many knockouts, and could be stronger than the challenger, if not equally as fast and athletic.

And although Kessler is six years older than Ward, the WBA super middleweight titlist seems to be in his prime.

Ward (pictured far right) appears to be the underdog in most phases of the matchup. But if you ask his promoter, Dan Goossen, that's just the way Ward likes it.

Dmitriy Salita had spent weeks training like a madman at the Poconos resort in Pennsylvania, but the boxer hadn't worked as feverishly as he had while running around in search for a working television on Saturday night.

"I tried to go to different places, but I couldn't find anywhere with good reception," said Salita, "because, you know, this place is out in the middle of nowhere."

By the time Salita was able to achieve his goal, the news already was out: One of his best friends, Yuri Foreman, had become the first Israeli citizen to earn a professional world title.