By Jim Dower: Former two-time super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (43-2, 32 KO’s) could be back in action on June 4th with a tune-up fight against southpaw Renan St. Juste (22-2, 15 KO’s).
Kessler has been out of action since last year after out-pointing WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch in the Super Six tournament in April 2010. Kessler suffered an eye injury before the Froch fight, and the injury to Kessler’s left eye made it necessary for him to pull out of the tournament.
In doing so, he gave up his WBC belt and let Froch and Arthur Abraham fight for it last November. Kessler’s eye has since healed and he’s looking to fight IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute. However, before doing that, Kessler will be taking at least one tune-up bout against a decent fighter.
St. Juste, a 38-year-old slugger, is being looked over as someone Kessler could possibly fight. This might be too risky of a fight for Kessler, because St. Juste can punch and his southpaw stance could be a problem for Kessler.
A prime Kessler would have no problems easily beating a slow fighter like St. Juste, but with Kessler coming off of a long layoff and a serious injury, St. Juste might be a little too tough of an opponent for Kessler at this early stage of his comeback.
Kessler has a lot of options available to him besides a fight with Bute. He also can fight the winner of the Super Six tournament if he sees fit. That would be a huge fight, especially if Andre Ward ends up winning the tourney. Ward already beat Kessler soundly in a 11th round technical decision win in 2009.
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