By Scott Gilfoid: There comes a time for every fighter to get pounded on, as long they don’t retire before they start getting beaten up, that is. On May 15th, I see unbeaten Kevin Mitchell (31-0, 23 KO’s) tasting defeat for the first time in his career in a brutal knockout loss to WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis (26-2, 21 KO’s) at Upton Park. It’s too bad that Mitchell will have to suffer the defeat at home rather than on the road, because it’s never a good thing to lose in front of one’s own boxing fans. If it was me, I’d rather lose on the road any day rather than lose in front of my home fans.

What we have here is Mitchell, a guy that has fought almost entirely in the UK against a mixed bag of opponents – some good, some not so good. Mitchell has been around seven long years as a professional and is only now finally stepping it up. At this point, Mitchell could end up with over 60 fights in his career by the time he wraps up his career. Of course, Mitchell could hang it up well before that if he starts taking losses one after another now that he’s finally stepping it up against 1st tier opposition.

Try comparing Mitchell with the tough Katsidis, who has been a pro for nine years – two years longer than Mitchell – and has been fighting top level opponents for the past three years. Mitchell is long overdue to take on a good fighter, and I think he’s going to be in over his head this Saturday night with Katsidis. Mitchell is hardly known out of the UK, and is hoping to make a name for himself by beating Katsidis. Mitchell doesn’t have the power or the same sturdy frame that Katsidis’ possesses.

Up until recently, Mitchell was a pure slugger and typically took a lot of punishment in his fights. Mitchell almost got taken out by Carl Johanneson in 2008. Following that fight, Mitchell became more of boxer and stopped slugging as much. I guess I can’t blame him. He was getting really hammered in many of his fights and because of his lack of big power, he probably wasn’t going to go far as a slugger. Mitchell has since added a jab and a lot of movement to his game and uses these tools to escape from the heat. Mitchell moved quite a lot in his best win of his career against Breidis Prescott last year in Newcastle. Mitchell won the fight by a 12 round decision, but I scored the fight for Prescott by 9 rounds to 3.

As far as the action goes on Saturday night, I foresee Mitchell running like a scolded dog once he gets hit a few times by Katsidis early on. My hope is Mitchell’s pride kicks in and he decides to battle Katsidis toe-to-toe. In that case, I see the fight ending in one or two rounds with Katsidis running over Mitchell like a Mack truck over a small raccoon in the road. Normally, I would say that Mitchell will run like no tomorrow, but the large British crowd may pump up his courage a couple of notches and he could get brave enough to try and trade with Katsidis.

Like I said, if Mitchell goes right at Katsidis, he’s going to get run over quick. But most likely I see Mitchell running for the hills as soon as the fight starts and continues run for 12 rounds, hoping to squeak out a decision at home. I think Katsidis catches Mitchell anyway by cutting off the ring, and blasting him apart against the ropes. Katsidis won’t let Mitchell run and will send him down with a terrific uppercut to the head. Mitchell will look up at Katsidis and wonder where he’s at.