By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten Kevin Mitchell (31-0, 23 KO’s) philosophized about defeat in an article at the Sun. The 25-year-old Mitchell will be fighting the hard-hitting World Boxing Organization (WBO) lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis (26-2, 21 KO’s) on May 15th at Upton Park, in London, England. For some reason, Mitchell is talking about defeat. I wonder if this is something that is going around in his head now that his fight with the knockout artist Katsidis is fast approaching. Mitchell had this to say in an article at the Sun: “Almost everyone gets done and you have to accept it. Amir Khan got beat, Carl Froch got beat, so what. He is fighting at world level and that is what happens. Fighters don’t usually stay unbeaten. The test of a real fighter is when he gets beat, he comes back.”
I’m not psychologist, but that sounds to me like Mitchell is coming to terms with a potential loss to Katsidis next Saturday night. I can respect that. It’s always good for a fighter to know his weaknesses and get ready for a loss. But it seems a little bizarre that Mitchell is talking losses before he’s even been spanked by Katsidis. Don’t you think Mitchell should be talking about losing afterwards and not ahead of time?
With Mitchell talking defeat right now with a week to go before the fight, it’s a like a warning shot across the bow, as if he’s getting us ready for his loss to Katsidis. I’ve seen most of Mitchell’s biggest fights of his career and I got to say I don’t give him any chance of beating Katsidis on May 15th. The only question for me is whether Mitchell will stand and fight – and take his beating – or run all night long and end up getting out-pointed by the Australian power puncher. I hope it’s the former rather than the latter that takes place. Sometimes you just got to give it your best shot. Like Mitchell says, “fighters don’t usually stay unbeaten.”
Mitchell will come out of the fight looking like a champion if he stands up to Katsidis, takes his beating, and puts on a crowd pleasing performance in losing. At 25, who will hold it against Mitchell if he gets mowed down by Katsidis? Mitchell won’t take a lot of heat in losing, at least not if he comes to fight and fights back as much as he humanly can before he gets obliterated by Katsidis. But for Christ sakes, I hope Mitchell stops talking about defeat. It’s kind of depressing to see him talking about the fight before it’s even happened.
Comments are closed.