By Scott Gilfoid: For some boxing fans the September 22nd fight between WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (34-2, 9 KO’s) and #1 WBO Kevin Mitchell (33-1, 24 KO’s) is a fight they’re looking forward to with great anticipation, almost like children looking forward to Christmas.

I’m not looking forward to this fight at all because I can already see how this one will be played out on September 22nd at the Scottish Exhibition Center, in Glasgow, Scotland. I’ve seen plenty of Burns’ recent fight, enough to know that he’s likely going to be looking to grab Mitchell any chance he can get to keep him from getting his shots off. Picture a lightweight version of John Ruiz with the punch and clinch technique rearing it’s ugly head.

Some guys can make a career out of this technique because it’s so difficult to beat if you’re not a skillful infighter. Mitchell unfortunately doesn’t fight well on the inside. He’s more of a George Groves type where he likes to move around the ring, use feints and land some hard shots every now and then.

Mitchell needs to be able to run free for him to have any success in the ring. The problem he’s going to have is that Burns is probably going to be grabbing him all night long in one way or another to keep him from getting his shots off. It’ll basically come down to whether the referee is on the job or not.

If the referee uses the old Laissez-faire approach to controlling the grabbing then Burns will be free to grab to his hearts content without losing points or being disqualified. But if the referee is on the job doing what he’s supposed to be doing, he’ll give Burns some warnings for the holding and such and then start with the point deductions.

I’d like to think that it’ll only take one point deduction to get Burns under control but I’m not so certain that’ll do the job. It might take as many as three to keep him from grabbing all night. I also hope the referee is watching out for the old holding and hitting. I’ve seen a lot of that too in watching recent fights.