What's next for Kevin Mitchell after loss against Michael Katsidis
May 15 was supposed to be a banner night for British boxing. In New York, Amir Khan was making his long-awaited American debut versus Paulie Malignaggi before a packed crowd at Madison Square Garden. Meanwhile, London’s Upton Park featured Khan’s friend Kevin Mitchell, who was scheduled to make a statement of his own against Michael Katsidis for the interim WBO lightweight title. It was thought that an expected and convincing victory over the former champion would propel Mitchell to possible international stardom rivaling that as Khan.
As it turned out, it was a “glass half empty” night for British boxing fans. While Khan held up his end of the bargain by stopping Malignaggi in the 11th round after a solid performance, Mitchell fell flat on his face against Katsidis. Unable to get on track after a very poor start, things turned into a nightmare for Mitchell when he was dropped and eventually stopped in the third round, ending his title bid and handing him the first blemish on his record after 31 victories to start his career.
Both fighters looked loose and ready to go at the opening bell, but perhaps fighting for a world title in front of a home crowd at the stadium of his favorite football team (West Ham) was too much for Mitchell, as he appeared to freeze once the bell rang to start the fight. From the outset, it was Katsidis who was controlling the action, aggressively pursuing Mitchell and hammering him in the corner or against the ropes with hard combinations. Mitchell seemed unable to muster much to counter Katsidis, instead resorting to desperate covering and blocking in an attempt to weather the assault.
Things picked up somewhat for Mitchell in the second round, even though it was clear that Katsidis was still in control of the battle for ring position. Despite backing up for much of the round, Mitchell did a better job of slipping Katsidis’ punches and delivering potshots in return before moving out of harm’s way. By the end of the round, it appeared that Mitchell had begun to loosen up and figure out how to handle Katsidis and that the first round was merely an aberration.
However, the third round would prove that the previous round was the exception to the rule. Katsidis hurt Mitchell badly with a big left hook at the beginning of the round, again pushing Mitchell into survival mode. Although he would be able to clinch and scrap his way through two-thirds of the round, eventually Katsidis would catch up to Mitchell again, belting him with a second left hook that wobbled Mitchell and essentially put him out on his feet. Katsidis looked to finish a defenseless Mitchell off, but referee Dave Parris quickly released the situation and stopped the fight before Mitchell could take more punishment.
In the end, it was a humiliating defeat for Mitchell, made even worse by comments made by his trainer Jimmy Tibbs and promoter Frank Warren in the post-fight press conference that Mitchell had been done in by a lack of preparation and focus in the training leading up to the fight. If it sounds like his team threw him under the bus after the fight, then that gives you an indication about just how frustrated they were after the loss. Both said they had warned Mitchell about his lackadaisical approach to preparing for the fight, and clearly their concerns had some significant merit. Mitchell can come back and again become a title contender. However, it puts his career at an interesting crossroads: either he learns from the mistakes he made before and during the fight and becomes a stronger and more focused fighter or the loss can have a crippling psychological impact on his future career.
Meanwhile, it might have been the signature win of Katsidis’ career. Back-to-back losses to Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz in 2008 seemed to spell the end for Katsidis as a legitimate title contender but this win puts him right back in the mix as an elite fighter.
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