By William Mackay: Lightweight contender Kevin Mitchell (30-0, 22 KO’s) will be facing 2nd tier lightweight Ignacio Mendoza (27-5, 18 KO’s) this Saturday in a stay busy fight at the Wembley Arena, Wembley, London. Mitchell, 25, is hoping to get a win so that he can possibly line up a fight against World Boxing Organization lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis in the near future. However, Mitchell needs to get by the 26-year-old Mendoza to keep moving forward towards that goal. Mitchell defeated Colombian knockout artist Breidis Prescott by a 12 round decision in December.

The win was an especially important one because it put Mitchell’s name on the boxing map. Prescott, a fighter with a ton of power, had destroyed British star Amir Khan in a 1st round knockout only a year earlier. Khan never attempted to avenge the defeat to Prescott. At 5’8”, Mitchell was thought to be too small and weak to beat the likes of Prescott.

However, Mitchell used a lot of movement and pot shots to win a wide decision over Prescott. The fight was fought in England. I saw the fight myself, and felt that like fellow writer Scott Gilfoid, that Prescott should have won the fight by at least six rounds because of his much bigger shot, busier style and his equal connects. However, Mitchell got the win and moved forward with his career.

Mitchell seems relieved that Khan has left England for the United States to further his career, saying “When Amir was fighting it was always the ‘Amir Khan show’ and I think now it will be the ‘Kevin Mitchell show’. I’ll be holding the big bills in London and it will be about me now. Amir’s done his own thing for his own reasons but he’s done me a massive favour in terms of marketability and sponsorship.”

It might not be as easy as Mitchell thinks to fill Khan’s shoes and become a huge star in England. Khan had much more flashy skills, better hand speed and overall more ability than Mitchell in my estimation. In watching Mitchell’s dull safety-first fight against Prescott, I found it hard to keep awake watching him. I’ve seen a number of Mitchell’s other fights, and he seems vulnerable when he trades with his opponents, and isn’t particularly fast or powerful. Khan appears to be a much more entertaining fighter, and I don’t know if Mitchell will ever measure up to him. I also think Khan would have utterly destroyed Mitchell had he had the inclination to stick around England and fight Mitchell.

Still speaking about Khan, Mitchell says “I personally think if he [Khan] thought he could beat me, the fight would be on. It would be a highly marketable fight and a massive money generator for the pair of us but I don’t think it’s on because he doesn’t fancy it. There’s too much to lose for him. There are easier fights out there for the same sort of money where he knows he’s not going to be in trouble.”

I disagree. I think Khan doesn’t see it as an appealing fight, because it would only interest England, and not the rest of the world, and especially not fans in the United States. Khan wants to take on huge stars in the sport like Juan Manuel Marquez, and there’s really no comparison between the star power of Mitchell and that of Marquez.

I think Khan is doing the right thing by going after fighters that are well known rather than a fighter like Mitchell, who is mainly known in the UK. For Khan to fight Mitchell, he would be basically shutting out the rest of boxing fans elsewhere in the world, because it’s highly unlikely that fans outside of the UK would want to see a fight between Mitchell and Khan.