By Sean McDaniel: Lightweight contender Kevin Mitchell (32-1, 24 KO’s) is taking a huge backwards step against little known 2nd tier fighter Stephen Ormond (11-0, 5 KO’s) next year on February 10th at the York Hall, Bethnal Green, London.

Mitchell hasn’t fought since last July when he defeated John Murray by an 8th round TKO to capture the WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title. Mitchell is hoping to get an easy win over Ormond and then go after the WBO interim lightweight champion Ricky Burns later on in the year.

Mitchell had been hoping to fight former WBA regular lightweight champion Brandon Rios earlier this month on the Antonio Margarito vs. Miguel Cotto card at Madison Square Garden in New York, but Mitchell couldn’t make the fight due to legal problem. It would have been the perfect time to fight Rios, as he had huge problems trying to make weight and looked poor against Murray.

The Mitchell-Ormond fight will be shown on BoxNation, Sky channel 456. For fans who want to see this fight they need to make sure they don’t tune in late because i twill likely be over very quickly with Mitchell destroying Ormond. This isn’t just a little mismatch, this is a huge mismatch and it’s going to be difficult for Ormond to last long unless he fights in a purely survive mode.

Ormond isn’t a good preparation bout for Mitchell to get ready for what he’ll be dealing with in a fight against the bigger and stronger Burns. Mitchell needed a better opponent to get him ready for that kind of fight. Ormond isn’t the right opponent to get Mitchell ready for that kind of battle.