By Scott Gilfoid: WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis (26-2, 21 KO’s) could be facing number #1 ranked Kevin Mitchell (31-0, 23 KO’s) at the Upton Park football stadium on May 15th. This is a large arena which seats 35,000 boxing fans. It’s debatable whether it sellout or not for this fight card, which reportedly includes a heavyweight clash between Sam Sexton and Danny Williams, but if it does it will be a lot of noise for the Australian Katsidis to have to deal with. Mitchell, 25, is hoping that the fight will take place at Upton Park, obviously wanting as big a crowd as possible to give him motivation for the fight.
It could be a positive for Mitchell if the fans help him fight at a higher level than normal, but it could be a negative too. It would be bad to get beat in front of all those fans, especially if it’s a bad beating like I think it’s going to be. Katsidis is probably the much bigger puncher of the two with by far the better experience. Mitchell has only been in with a handful of fighters I consider decent like Breidis Prescott for one. Mitchell beat Prescott by a 12 round decision in December 2009, in a fight that took place in England.
Mitchell used a lot of moment in that fight and only rarely stopped and threw a punch. Prescott missed a lot of his punches, but still ended up landing the harder shots. I gave the fight to Prescott eight rounds to four because he was the one making the fight and the one who landed the bigger shots. Mitchell ran through much of the fight and I was frankly bored out of mind watching it.
I can’t stand watching runners. Usually, Mitchell is a fighter that tends to mix it up with his opponents but he took the safe course against Prescott and put on his track shoes for the fight. In an article at Boxing news, Katsidis comments on the Mitchell-Prescott fight, saying “I saw the Prescott fight and he ran like a cat.” I have to agree with Katsidis.
I can’t remember the last time I saw a fighter run as much as Mitchell did in that fight. It was awful to watch and I was shocked that the referee didn’t take points away for all the running. At some point, I think the referee should have stepped in and taken a point to get Mitchell to start mixing it up more.
Mitchell, speaking about Katsidis, says “I fancy a late knockout.” Does he now? Well, I’d like to see Mitchell try. I’m not holding my breath on that happening. I see Mitchell running from Katsidis all night long in a survival mode type of fight. If Mitchell does try for a knockout, I see Katsidis taking him out quickly.
I think there is a huge gulf in talent between the two fighters and Katsidis going to prove that when he steps in the ring with Mitchell. It will be great if Mitchell actually tries to fight Katsidis instead of running. But I don’t believe for a second that Mitchell is going to try and fight him.
He says is right now, but once Mitchell gets a little taste of Katsidis’ power in the 1st round, he’ll be heading for cover to keep from getting hit. This is where I think it will be bad for the fight to be taking place at Upton Park, because with all those fans there at ringside, they might start booing and god that would really bad, wouldn’t it?
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