IT was a ‘Bridge Too Far’ for Brian Magee on Saturday night as he was stopped in the third round of his WBA World title fight against Mikkel Kessler in Denmark.
Kessler was just too strong and fast for Magee, but the Lisburn southpaw can still hold his head high after what has been a wonderful career.
What’s left in the tank can only be answered by Magee himself but he admitted that Kessler was just the better man on the night.
“I came to fight. The first shot he hit me to the body really stung me badly.
“I just couldn’t recover. It took all my might to get up from that shot.
“Mikkel is a great champion and all through the fight and the build-up he’s treated me with respect, as have the people of Denmark.
“I always knew he was a champion. I trained like a champion, I gave it my all but a body shot like that is hard to recover from.
“I tried my best but couldn’t beat him. Congratulations to him,” he added.
The win took Kessler’s record to 46-2 with 35 knockouts and he said: “It feels great to be champion again.
“We planned to go to the body and it worked very well.
“I am back at the very top, I am ready for everybody out there at super-middleweight and that includes Carl Froch,” he added.
Also on Saturday night Eamonn O’Kane lost in his bid to beat John Ryder in a British title eliminator in London.
O’Kane was stopped in the eighth round by the impressive southpaw Ryder. O’Kane should be back out again in the Odyssey in February,
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