By Sean McDaniel: Kevin Mitchell (31-1, 23 KO’s), a former British and Commonwealth lightweight champion, will face unbeaten John Murray (31-0, 18 KO’s) on July 9th at a still to be determined venue in London, England. This is a fight that has been much talked about for ages but has never been until now been able to be put together.

Mitchell hasn’t been in the ring since being destroyed by Michael Katsidis last year in May, but will still be taking the Murry fight even without a tune-up. That shows you how much confidence that Mitchell has in his ability, because most fighters would opt for at least a soft tune-up before taking on a quality opponent like the unbeaten Murray.

Mitchell, 26, is looking to show his fans that his loss to Katsidis was a fluke and that he is better than that and can show his skills against a slower, more limited fighter like Murray. However, Mitchell is going to have to show more than superior skills if he wants to win this fight, because Murray is a fighter that just keeps coming forward round after round looking to throw nonstop punches.

Mitchell is going to have to stay on the move and keep from getting worn down in this fight. It’s doubtful that Mitchell will be able to stop the iron-chinned Murray because he can take a heck of a shot and still keep coming. But Mitchell has the advantages in boxing skills in this one, and if he can move like he did in his win over Breidis Prescott in 2009, he should be able to beat Murray without too many problems.

Murray recently defeated Karim El Ouazghari by a hard fought 12 round unanimous decision on April 2nd. The fight was a lot closer than the scores indicated and Murray didn’t look very impressive against the limited but tough Ouazghari.