By William Mackay: Top number #1 World Boxing Organization lightweight contender Kevin Mitchell (31-0, 23 KO’s) and WBO lightweight interim champion (26-2, 21 KO’s) will be facing each other on May 15th, at Upton Park, in London, England. The fight will be shown on Sky Sports HD, giving both fighters some badly needed visibility for their clash. The card is loaded with prospects James DeGale, Frankie Gavin and Billy Joe Saunders, all hoping to impress and keep their forward momentum in their early careers. The match between Mitchell and Katsidis is the real interest here, as it’s actually a competitive one and not merely a mismatch.

Although it could turn out to be a big mismatch if Katsidis or Mitchell’s skill is too much for their opponent. Mitchell has fought slightly more times than Katsidis, but has faced arguably weaker opposition until recently when Mitchell was put in with knockout artist Breidis Prescott, whom he beat by a 12 round decision. Depending upon who you ask, Mitchell was the greatest thing since sliced bread or he stunk up the place by running from Prescott all night long and only throwing an occasional pot shot.

I saw the fight and thought it was very similar to the Andre Dirrell vs. Carl Froch fight, with Mitchell fighting very similar to Dirrell. It was a good fight, but not exactly entertaining and probably not the kind of fight that would beat a more skilled opponent like Katsidis. Mitchell, 25, will need to show more variation with his game on May 15th if he wants to beat a slugger/boxer like Katsidis.

The movement, clinching and pot shotting from Mitchell probably won’t work against an accurate puncher like Katsidis. It worked up to a point against Prescott, but only because Prescott was loading up with every punch he threw all night long. This caused Prescott to miss with many of his shots because he proved to be poor at hitting a moving target. However, Prescott did land plenty of shots and Mitchell looked like he had been in car accident afterwards.

Mitchell won the fight, but failed to impress in the way that he would need to for him to make believers out of a lot of boxing fans. The good news for Mitchell in this fight against Katsidis is that the fight will be in Mitchell’s home country of England, which will help him in a couple of ways: First of all, Mitchell will have a huge crowd cheering his every punch, even his misses in all likelihood. And secondly, with judges being impressionable to crowd noise, they could end up giving Mitchell a decision if the fight is anywhere close.

This is why Katsidis is going to have to really take the fight to Mitchell, not allow him to run and spoil, and keep the fight from going to the judges. The last thing that Katsidis can afford is letting it go to the cards and ending up losing a questionable decision. In looking at Mitchell’s win over Prescott, it’s probable that Mitchell will run all night long and clinch like Dirrell if Katsidis gets close. This is why Katsidis has to be ready with uppercuts on the inside to persuade Mitchell to keep off of him and let him work.

On the outside, Katsidis will have to be fast to cut off the ring on the fleeing Mitchell to force him to fight, and not let him throw jabs and occasional pot shots to try and win rounds. I think Mitchell could end up winning rounds even if his punch output is limited to the teens if he can run enough to keep from getting hit. Katsidis has to intercept Mitchell’s flight path, and stop him in his tracks again and again until Mitchell finally realizes the only way to fight him is by slugging it out. In a toe-to-toe battle, I give Mitchell no chance in this fight. Katsidis looks to be the much better slugger, the better chin and the more rugged fighter. If Katsidis can stop Mitchell from running, I see this fight ending quickly, perhaps by the 6th round with Mitchell ending up face down on the canvas.

In another exciting fight on the card, Danny Williams will be challenging British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Sam Sexton. This is an important fight for the 36-year-old Williams, as he’s lost two out of his last three fights. However, Sexton has a shaky chin and if Williams can go after him hard in the first six rounds with power shots, Williams could end up taking Sexton out early in the same way that Derek Chisora was able to in 2008 in a 6th round stoppage win.