By Scott Gilfoid: Tonight, Michael Katsidis (28-4, 23 KO’s) will be facing former WBO super featherweight champion Ricky Burns (32-2, 9 KO’s) in a fight for the interim WBO lightweight title at the Wembley Arena in Wembley, London, England. This is a big step down for Katsidis from the guys he’s been facing at the world level as of late.

Burns is completely inexperienced and has been spoon fairly soft opposition in the past year since his surprise win over Roman Martinez last year n September. Katsidis is facing a guy without any power, not much in the way of speed and who gets hit a lot. It can’t get any better for Katsidis. It’s like he’s being put in with a weaker version of Kevin Mitchell.

I’m sorry but I don’t see this as a competitive fight. Burns was a paper champion when he held the WBO super featherweight title in my estimation, and was smart to move up in weight instead of facing Adrien Broner and getting knocked out. But there isn’t much relief for Burns, because Katsidis is just as much trouble for Burns as Broner. He’s got the power, the style and the talent to make short work of Burns.

Katsidis is basically facing a guy who hasn’t fought in over a year in Burns. That’s really what it is. Burns’ last good fight was against a weight drained Martinez, and barely won that fight. He then wasted an entire year fighting weak opposition and will be stepping up a weight class to fight one of the hardest punchers in the lightweight division in Katsidis. This is going to be bad for Burns I hate to say. Katsidis is so much stronger and better than anyone that Burns has fought that it’s not even funny.

Katsidis thinks that Burns will initially try to slug with him at the beginning of the fight, but when that doesn’t work, Katsidis sees Burns trying to box from the outside. That won’t work either because Burns likes to trade too much, and Katsidis is good at getting past the jab. Once he’s on the inside, he’s going to tear Burns’s midsection apart and weaken him. It won’t take long for Burns to wear down and get taken out in this fight. I know it’ll be a surprise to Brit fans but not to me. When you take a guy that has been matched softly for most of his career and put him in with a real slugger like Katsidis, bad things happen for softly matched fighter. Burns doesn’t have the power, and doesn’t have the skills to win this fight. Look for a nice easy KO in the 5th or 6th rounds.

Prediction: Katsidis by 5th round KO over Burns.