By William Mackay: Lightweight Kevin Mitchell (31-0, 23 KO’s) sees his May 15th bout against Michael Katsidis (26-2, 21 KO’s) as a fight that will bring him fame in the boxing world. Mitchell, 25, is still largely unknown outside of the UK. Hardcore boxing fans know of him because of his 12 round decision over Colombian knockout artist Breidis Prescott last year. But if Mitchell can beat the well known Katsidis, he’ll immediately become known to boxing fans around the globe, even if the fight still won’t be seen by a lot of fans outside of the UK. In an article at the Guardian, Mitchell says “This is a massive fight for me. It will move me into the big time.”

It will possibly put Mitchell in the position where he could get a fight against WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez in the future. That’s not a guaranteed fight, because Marquez at this point is looking at more established fighters and Mitchell still will likely need more exposure before he can get an immediate fight with Marquez. Besides that, there’s talk of Marquez potentially vacating the WBO title.

Marquez would be a whole different ball game for Mitchell, because he can do it all and this isn’t a fight that Mitchell could win by hitting and running like he did against Prescott. Nor would Mitchell have much look in slugging with Marquez. However, Mitchell’s fight against Katsidis is one that he could very well lose despite the fight taking place in his home country of the UK. Katsidis is very tough, has a lot of power and puts constant pressure on his opponents.

If Mitchell beats Katsidis by a decision, he will have earned it because he’s going to take a lot of punishment from the Australian. Mitchell says that he’s going to be using a different strategy for the Katsidis fight compared to the one he used in his 12 round decision win over Prescott. In that fight, Mitchell hit and run all night long.

One could guess that if Mitchell is telling the truth about this, then he might be choosing to slug at times with Katsidis but still use a lot of movement. It would probably be suicide for Mitchell if he elects to slug with Katsidis. Although the British fans would love to see Mitchell punch with Katsidis, he’s probably not going to try to do that because of the risk involved.