Photo by Sebastian Heger

Abdul Khattab (15-2-1, 4 KOs) will have a familiar face in his corner when he enters the ring for his eight-round Scandinavian middleweight thriller against Oliver Flodin (4-0) on January 19 at the Struer Energi Park in Denmark.

Khattab is fighting on the undercard of Dina Thorslund’s WBO Female World Super Bantamweight title defence versus Alesia Graf, and will be joined by coach and mentor, Mikkel Kessler, the former five-time World Champion.

“It means a lot to me that Mikkel is going to be with me in Struer,” says the Copenhagen boxer. “When Mikkel is with me, I feel safe, and as long as I listen to his instructions, with him in my corner nothing can go wrong!”

and Kessler were last in action on October 27 at the Sport and Congress Centre in Schwerin. Here, the 25 year-old scored a draw against Ronny Mittag, in a fight both men believed they should have won.

“Although the fight ended a draw, both me and Mikkel agreed that I won, and that meant a lot to me,” he says. “Now, we need a victory over Flodin, and I will be ready to move on to even bigger fights later this year.”

Dina Thorslund tops the bill in Struer, defending her WBO Female World Super Bantamweight title against Alesia Graf, while former European Champion Dennis Ceylan rematches Jesus Sanchez for the EU Featherweight crown.

Oliver Flodin faces Abdul Khattab in a Scandinavian middleweight thriller, heavyweight hope Kem Ljungquist takes on Dominik Musil, Lolenga Mock continues his World title chase against Mateo Damian Veron, Mikkel Nielsen meets Bulgaria’s Angel Emilov, and Adam Bashanov faces Ivan Nikolov.