Joe Calzaghe, W 42 (31 ko's) - 0 vs. Mikkel Kessler, 38 (29) ko's) -0 is a fight that has to be made and someone's "O" must go! Off their respective fights with Sakio Bika and Markus Beyer tonight, Kessler must be given a reasonable chance to slow down the Welshman's express train.

Joe had to battle his way to the final bell of a very hard night's work with the game Australian (by way of Cameroon), Bika, who came to win. Joe was breathing hard at the end,On the other Hand, Kessler brutally dispatched WBC super middleweight champion Markus Beyer in three rounds and now owns both the WBA and WBC 168-pound belts. 

As for fighting Calzaghe, the Dane said he has no qualms about facing the 42-0 world champion either in England or Denmark.

Though I am much more impressed with the Pride of Wales' overall level of opposition, Kessler has never suffered anything less than a UD. If you did a won-lost analysis of Joe's opponents (coming in) the result wold be astoundingly impressive. Fighters like Jeff Lacey, Mario Veit, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Evans Ashira, Byron Mitchell, Richie Woodhall, Omar Sheika, Chris Eubank, Robin Reid and Mark Delaney came in with either unblemished records or just one or two defeats. But the fact that he has fought much better opposition, combined with his age, might just have taken something out of him.

The "Viking Warrior" is 27 years old compared to Calzaghe's 34 and that disparity seemed to show a bit tonight against Bika. Kessler's ko percentage is a handsome 76%, while Calzaghe's is just as impressive at 74%. Yet I keep coming back to age vs. Youth and the fact that Kessler may be peaking while Joe has already reached and possibly passed his. If so, this could spell trouble for the "Italian Dragon." As savvy boxing fans know, fighters sometimes "grow old overnight."