Calzaghe Unifies Super Middleweight Titles

It was a battle of undefeated super middleweights between Joe Calzaghe and Mikkel Kessler. But in the end, Calzaghe proved to be the steadier fighter as he outpoints Kessler to a unanimous decision in front of more than 50,000 boxing fans at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

With the win, Calzaghe unified the three major titles adding the WBA and WBC super middleweight titles to his own WBO crown.

"To win the four major title belts, to be the unbeaten champion and 10 years a champion it's just amazing and I'm so proud," said Calzaghe, who said it could well be his final fight at 168 pounds before he finishes his career as a light-heavyweight.

"An extra seven pounds at this stage in my career -- 10 years a champion, four major belts -- what else is there to do? Dig all those guys up -- Roy Jones, Bernard Hopkins, come on let's do it.

"I think I've shown them in the States what I'm all about. I'm looking at fighting for another 12 months and I want to fight the big fights and hopefully this will set this up for the big fight and Hopkins will come out of hiding."

All judges have it in favor of Calzaghe with judge Raul Caiz scoring the bout 117-111, John Stewart and Massimo Barrovecchio seeing it 116-112. The 35-year old Welshman improved to 44-0 while Kessler dropped to 39-1.

On the undercard, Enzo Maccarinelli stopped New Zealand-based challenger Mohammed Azzaoui less than a minute into the fourth round to retain the WBO cruiserweight title. The Welshman improved to 28-1, while Azzaoui dropped to 22-1-2.