By Per Ake Persson at ringside
Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark - Mikkel Kessler (45-2, 34KOs), in his light heavyweight debut, knocked out Allan Green (31-4, 21KOs) in the fourth round with a hard left hook to capture the vacant WBC silver light heavyweight crown.
They started jabbing each other early and following up with hard punches. The pace was fast in the early going. Green rocked Kessler with a right hand and then sent him down with a flurry of punches to the head and body. Kessler made it up and made it to the bell.
Kessler came back with a few punches in the second, but still looked unsteady on his legs. Near the end of the round, he rocked Green in the final ten seconds. Kessler was blasting away at Green in the third and made it a war. Green was getting rocked, but still throwing back big punches. In the fourth round, Kessler landed a perfect left hook that knocked Green out cold. Green was laying flat on the canvas, with medical officials rushing the ring to give him immediate attention.
Middleweight Patrick Nielsen (15-0, 8KOs) won an easy six round unanimous decision over Gaetano Nespro (19-9-1, 3KOs). All three judges saw it 60-54. Nielsen was very hot tempered in this fight, chasing after Nespro in several rounds and trying to put the hurt on his Italian opponent. At the end of the fifth, Nespro gave Nielsen a friendly tap on the chin after the bell and Nielsen responded with a hook to the jaw, with the ref coming between them to prevent further 'after the bell' fireworks.
Polish cruiser Mateusz Masternak (27-0, 20KOs) outscored Welshman Hari Miles (7-5) over ten. Masternak won on scores of 99-90 twice and 99-91. Miles was down at the end of the second.
Super middleweight prospect Simen Smaadal (2-0, 1KO) won a four round unanimous decision over Srdjan Mihajlovic (5-2).
Light heavyweight prospect Erik Skoglund (10-0, 8KOs) won an eight round unanimous decision over Pablo Sosa (2-1-1). All three judges saw it 80-72. Skoglund, 20-years-old, picks up his third win of the year.