By Scott Gilfoid: The skinny looking Kevin Mitchell (31-0, 23 KO’s) will be facing the stocky and powerful Michael Katsidis (26-2, 21 KO’s) tomorrow night on Saturday at Upton Park. Mitchell, 25, needs and wants this fight to get the big money fights in the future against fighters like Juan Manuel Marquez and Amir Khan. Do I see that happening? No, not unless Mitchell is given a home town decision against Katsidis. It really helps fighting at home, but I’m hoping the judges get the decision right if it comes to that. I doubt it will. I suspect that Katsidis will be able to cut off the ring on the constantly running Mitchell, force him to fight and knock him cold.

Once Mitchell is forced to fight Katsidis instead of run, I think he’s going to get really hammered by the powerful Australian. The problem for Mitchell is that he seems much too frail and weak looking to compete against a powerfully built fighter like Katsidis. In comparing the two fighters, Katsidis looks like a junior middleweight with his physique going against a skinny and small lightweight in Mitchell. With his bigger frame and power, Katsidis is going to be able to walk through the weak jabs and power shots that Mitchell throws at him.

Once he’s in punching range, Katsidis will pulverize the weaker Mitchell, beat him up, and take him out in front of his British fans. There could be as many as 30,000 mostly British fans that show up for this fight. I just hope that crowd don’t go berserk after the fight and start throwing beer cans or other similar projectiles out of frustration at Katsidis defeating their hometown hero. There will probably be a lot of tears, and unhappy Brit fans in the crowd. The best thing for Katsidis to do would be to knock Mitchell cold and make a quick beeline for the exit to avoid getting brained by an upset fan. It’s better to be safe than sorry.