By Jason Kim: Mikkel Kessler (43-2, 32 KO’s) takes what will likely be his only tune-up bout before a title shot later in the year when Kessler takes on Mehdi Bouadla (22-3, 10 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark. Kessler didn’t want to take a complete novice for his first fight in over a year, and as such, the little known fringe contender Boudla was dug up to face Kessler.

Boudla probably will have enough talent to give Kessler some badly needed rounds. If Kessler looks good in winning, you can expect him to challenge for a title in September or October against WBO super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz. Kessler has talked about wanting to fight IBF champion Lucian Bute soon but that might be too much of a big step for Kessler given his long time off. Kessler hasn’t fought since beating Carl Froch last year in April.

Kessler fought a great fight in beating Froch, but the bout was a costly one for Kessler, as he aggravated a preexisting eye injury. The injury was bad enough for Kessler to pull out of the Super Six tourney, and take it easy for the past 12 rounds. Kessler says the eye injury has fully healed and that he’s ready to start coming again. It remains to be seen if the eye injury doesn’t re-occur.

Boudla, 29, isn’t very tall, fast or powerful. He’s looked very basic in most of his fights and his best asset seems to be his ability to take punishment. That’s not going to keep him in a fight with Kessler for long. If Kessler unloads on him with too many un-answered shots, we’ll likely get a quick stoppage.