WBA Super-Middleweight Champion Mikkel Kessler (41-1, 31 KOs) has vowed not to underestimate mandatory challenger Gusmyl Perdomo (16-2, 10 KOs). The duo came face-to-face for the first time today during the official press conference at the MCH Herning in Denmark. They will meet in the ring again on September 12, with SHOWTIME airing the fight on a special Saturday primetime edition of ShoBox: The New Generation at 10 p.m. ET/PT (same day tape delay). “I am thrilled to be fighting in my home country and I am glad the fans in the U.S. will have the chance to watch,” Kessler said. “I cannot wait to be back in the ring. Obviously, there is much more at stake than just the WBA Super-Middleweight Title.”

Kessler is to face Andre Ward in their hotly-anticipated first-round meeting of SHOWTIME´s Super Six World Boxing Classic. “I am not thinking about that right now,” he stated. “All my focus is on Perdomo. He is a tough challenger who wants to walk away with my title. I want to enter the Super Six with a victory and my belt, so I know how much there will be at stake on September 12.”

Kessler will soon move his training camp base to Berlin to work out in Team Sauerland´s facilities in the German capital. “It will be a very tough preparation but I look forward to it,” he said. And he added with a smile: “Now I go to their hometown and show them how to box.”

Challenger Gusmyl Perdomo also voiced his confidence ahead of the clash. “This is the biggest fight of my career,” he stated. “Mikkel Kessler is a great fighter and a great champion, but I will rise to the occasion and take the belt home. You have to be very intelligent to beat Kessler, but I have got the moves – the Latino moves and the feel for the rhythm – to defeat him. I know I have got what it takes to leave the ring victorious.”

Kalle Sauerland was pleased to stage Team Sauerland´s first-ever show in Denmark. “This is a milestone for us,” he said. “Mikkel Kessler is a national hero and we have big plans for Denmark and the whole of Scandinavia. This will be the first of many great fights in a region that is very enthusiastic about boxing.”

Georg Sorensen, CEO of MCH Herning, was thrilled to stage another world-class event in Herning. “We are very pleased to work with Team Sauerland on this project,” he said. “It will be very special to have Mikkel Kessler fight here. We are keen to establish Herning as a top destination for world-class sports events and concerts and this is another great milestone.”