By William Mackay: Former British and Commonwealth lightweight champion Graham Earl thinks it’s too soon for undefeated Kevin Mitchell (31-0, 23 KO’s) to be taking on a world class fighter like WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis (26-2, 21 KO’s). This Saturday night, Mitchell takes on the dangerous Katsidis at Upton Park in a make or break fight for Mitchell. He’s hoping to get the win and use it as a springboard for better paying bouts against the likes of WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez and possibly against Amir Khan in the future. But Mitchell will first have to get by Katsidis this Saturday to get to the bigger paying fights.
In an article at Skysports, Earl says “We [Mitchell] are friends. In fact, I am friends with both of them, but I am not one to sit on the fence. I tend to think that Michael [Katsidis] still has a lot of fight left in him. Michael has been at world class level, whereas Kevin is just coming into it. Kevin has definitely got the tools to fight at world class but I think it is coming a little too soon at the moment.” Earl should know. He’s sparred with Mitchell in the past and has a pretty good idea how good or not good he is. Also, Earl fought Katsidis in 2007, and lost by a 5th round stoppage in an exciting bout that saw both fighters trade bombs and hurt each other.
Mitchell is counting on a large crowd of perhaps 30,000 fans to cheer him on and give him extra strength on Saturday night at Upton Park. It remains to be seen whether the fans will be enough for Mitchell to fight on a higher level. It could work equally for Katsidis, who is looking forward to fighting in front of that many fans. He draws energy from them whether they’re for or against him. The fans could lull Mitchell into a false sense of safety, making him more willing to trade with the hard punching Katsidis.
All it takes is one big punch from the Australian and he could hurt Mitchell or drop him. Once he has an opponent hurt, Katsidis is good at finishing them because he stays in close and hammers them with chopping shots. Mitchell could end up getting badly exposed by Katsidis this Saturday and shown how much more work he still has to go. Katsidis is a fighter that Mitchell has to beat if he wants to get to the next level for fights against Khan and Marquez. It’s silly for Mitchell to be talking about wanting fights against bigger names in the sport before he’s even beaten Katsidis.
It seems that Mitchell’s win over Breidis Prescott in December gave him a ton of confidence about himself, but maybe too much confidence. Prescott was already beaten before he fought him Mitchell by Miguel Vazquez in July last year. It isn’t like Mitchell battered Prescott. He won by moving all night long in an ugly fight. On Saturday, Mitchell is going to have to prove that he can beat Katsidis in the trenches or else he won’t get to that next level that he keeps talking about 24/7.
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