Boxing Betting / Ralph Ellis / 22 October 2009 / Leave a comment

The super middleweight division is being unified and only one man can come out on top. britain's Carl Froch is third favourite but it's a Viking with an English mum who is fancied to go all the way. Ralph Ellis fills in the details

"Kessler has to get past American Andre Ward in Oakland on November 21, and that won’t be a complete formality against a former Olympic Gold medallist who has his own 20 match unbeaten run to defend."

It's been a week of world champions. Jenson Button, of course, finally took his foot off the brake pedal and collected the driving title he should have sewn up weeks ago. Beth Tweddle delivered Britain's first gymnastics gold at the World Championships. And Carl Froch successfully retained his WBC super middleweight crown.

Button immediately shortened to [1.69] favourite to be BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Tweddle shot in from nowhere to [50.0] and is still a good bet at that price. And Froch? He remains [1000.0] and not worth backing with a bean.

The Nottingham fighter's achievements stayed completely under the radar of anybody but the most avid fight fans, mainly because he was ignored by British TV channels, and fought Andre Dirrell at nearly three o'clock on Sunday morning. Despite his achievements you suspect he's still not even a household name in his own house!

But that could start to change when he moves on to the next stage of the imaginative Super Six World Series aimed at unifying the Super Middleweight division. Next up for the 32-year-old will almost certainly be WBA champion Mikkel Kessler and that's a fight that the mainstream TV media will be bidding for.

First of all Kessler has to get past American Andre Ward in Oakland on November 21, and that won't be a complete formality against a former Olympic Gold medallist who has his own 20 match unbeaten run to defend. But then the Viking warrior whose only defeat in 43 fights was to Joe Calzaghe will be ready for a massive battle with Froch which could fill a stadium in either England or his home town of Copenhagen.

The likelihood is it will go to the 50,000 capacity Parken Stadium in Denmark, where home advantage would give Kessler every chance to justify his [2.6] favourite to be the overall winner in the Super Six series. But credit to Froch who insists he won't be afraid to meet the hard punching Dane anywhere in the world.

Froch's promoter Mick Hennessy tells today's Daily Express: "We will go wherever it makes commercial sense, whether that is Denmark or Nottingham. It is a dream come true for Carl because Kessler will stand and trade punches, which Dirrell just didn't want to do."

That change of styles could give Froch, known as 'The Cobra', the chance to strike with far more venom than he was ever able to manage against Dirrell. He's [4.4] in the betting to win the Super Six Series only because favourite Kessler is in the way - and thus you are effectively getting that price for him to win the semi-final bout.

Who knows? Maybe he could end up as Sports Personality in 2010!

Five things you might not know about Mikkel Kessler...

1. Born in Copenhagen, his dad is Danish but Mum Ann comes from Salisbury. His fight against Joe Calzaghe was billed as England v Wales.

2. His back is covered in Viking tattoos, with the words Viking Warrior and barbed wire running across his strongest punching arm

3. He's recently been reunited with a long lost brother who lives in Lincolnshire

4. The Calzaghe match was his only professional defeat in 43 fights - he still blames a fist injury gained early in the contest

5. He keeps an American bulldog named Herman who's a bit of a heavyweight at 110 pounds!

Tags: Andre Ward, BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Beth Tweddle, Jenson Button, Mikkel Kessler, Super Six World Series