Kessler retains WBA title

Mikkel Kessler retained his WBA super-middleweight title with a third round stoppage victory over German Danilo Haussler.

Kessler still best at 168lb

Mikkel Kessler retained his WBA super-middleweight title with a third round stoppage victory over German Danilo Haussler. The heavily-tattoed Viking Warrior dominated the fight from the start, causing damage to his opponent's left eye in the second round with a solid jab, and a clinical left hook finished it a minute into the third. Kessler, who regained the belt after Joe Calzaghe, who inflicted the Dane's only defeat to date, relinquished his titles, now has a record of 41-1 with 31 victories by way of knockout. Elsewhere, Italian veteran Gaicobbe Fragomeni claimed the vacant WBC cruiserweight title with a points victory over Czech Rudolf Kraj. The fight was stopped after eight rounds of the scheduled 12 due to a small cut suffered by Fragomeni over his right eye for what the referee deemed was a head-butt. The result went to the scorecards and with the 39-year-old ahead 77-74 on all three cards, he was awarded the belt.