Ricky Burns v Kevin Mitchell

Arguably the highlight of this coming weekend is the all British WBO Lightweight title bout between champion Ricky Burns (34-2, 9) and highly regarded challenger Kevin Mitchell (33-1, 24). Not only is it an all British affair but it's also got the added spice of being Scotland v England adding further to what is arguably the most anticipated all British fight of the year.

Scotland's Ricky Burns lacked the hype early in his career that many others got and as a result he wasn't matched in a way that many other top fighters are. In fact for the first few years of his career his was given really very little in terms of developmental fights before being thrown in with then then British Lightweight champion Graham Earl, who he unexpectedly defeated back in 2005 (when Earl was 22-0, whilst Burns was just 9-0).

Despite scoring the upset victory over Earl he was still not acknowledged as a genuinely promising young fighter and was instead thrown to the wolves against Alex Arthur just a few bouts later. At that time Arthur was the European, British and Commonwealth champion at Super Featherweight with a record of 21-1, his experienced told and he showed up the inexperienced Burns by taking a wide decision.

Burns would suffer his second loss just a year later as the hard hitting Carl Johanneson defeated him in a British Super Featherweight title clash. This seemed to be the turning point and Burns would almost re-start his career. Burns began facing journeymen once again before rebuilding his confidence and swiftly moving on to claim his first professional title, the Commonwealth Super Featherweight title. He would defend this title 3 times before moved on to his first world title fight.

In 2010 Burns announced himself to the boxing world by out pointing the highly regarded Puerto Rican Roman Martinez for the WBO Super Featherweight title. He would defend this title 3 times before moving up to Lightweight where he would quickly claim the WBO "interim" Lightweight title with an upset over the hard hitting Australian Michael Katsidis. The interim title quickly got upgraded to the full version of the title and Burns has since managed a solitary defense by out pointing Paulus Moses last time out.

Stood at 5'10" it's a wonder that Burns ever managed to fight at Super Featherweight, he looks huge at Lightweight and must have been really taking a lot out of himself at 130. Despite looking huge at 135lbs he's not actually a big puncher, instead he's a classic boxer who uses his jab and movement to control range, whilst also being able to mix it off the ropes. Whilst I doubt few will agree, Burns is amongst the best pure boxers in the sport and if he relies on his boxing ability I can only see 1 man at Lightweight beating him (Miguel Vazquez).

If Ricky Burns is seen as British boxing's "over-achiever" of modern times then Kevin Mitchell is almost certainly British boxing's under-achiever. When he turned professional back in 2003 it was expected that Mitchell would swiftly rise through the ranks. He had looked sensational in claiming an ABA title and was seen almost as a certainty to be fast tracked towards a world title. Sadly however he has yet to realise his professional boxing dream of being a world champion.

Mitchell's early years as a professional were not only very highly hyped but he was also developed properly. In his 17th fight Mitchell claimed his first professional title by winning the IBF Inter-Continental Super Featherweight title and less than a year later Mitchell added the Commonwealth title to his collection. It was seen that he was being allowed to develop and move forward at a comfortable speed rather than being rushed into bouts against opponents that he stood little to no chance to defeat.

Despite having claimed the IBF Inter-continental and Commonwealth titles Mitchell's career started to stall somewhat. His good match making had taken him to a solid level but he just seemed to be stuck on a plateau of sorts with no moving upwards and onwards. He held the IBF Super Feather Inter-Continental title for almost 2 years and yet never moved onto a world title bout as the IBF world title was passed around various weak champions such as Gairy St Clair and Cassius Baloyi.

After wasting over 3 years treading water at Super Featherweight Mitchell moved to Lightweight and swiftly made an impact by thoroughly out boxing the hard hitting Colombian Breidis Prescott. Mitchell followed up the excellent performance over Prescott by stopping Ignacio Mendoza in eye catching fashion before getting his first world title fight against Michael Katsidis.

Mitchell was given the big build up to face Katsidis, not only was the bout at the home of Mitchell's beloved West Ham United, but he also had the "Cockney Rejects" singing his entrance music. Sadly however Mitchell got caught by a hard Katsidis shot in round 3 and was soon stopped as the Australian started to let his hands go.

Following the loss to Katsidis, it quickly emerged that Mitchell hadn't trained particularly hard for the fight as various problems outside the ring distracted him. Sadly this appeared to be a case of a losing fighter making excuses for a poor performances rather than just admitting he was beaten by the better man.

Since his loss to Katsidis, Mitchell has bounced back well with victories over John Murray (TKO8) and Felix Lora (Pts10) and now appears determined to finally reach his potential as world champion. He appears to be in a good mindset and seems to have been training well for this bout knowing that it's his big chance at redemption. Mitchell will know perfectly well that fans will not put up with excuses this time and that he needs to deliver.

In terms of his style Mitchell is a very talented fighter who can really do pretty much anything. He has heavy powerful hands that can hurt pretty much anyone, he's got fast hands that can throw beautiful counters and combinations and has very solid footwork which can be used both defensively and offensively. In fact in terms of talent Mitchell may well be one of the very best fighters out there at the moment to have never claimed a world title.

Whilst Mitchell is hugely talented I can't help but think stylistically he's going to really struggle here. Burns may only be slightly bigger but he uses his size so well, his jab is excellent at controlling range and his movement is exceptional. If Mitchell cannot get inside of Burns' jab and straight right hand he'll not have a chance and will easily be out boxed by a fighter who may not have real power but does have snap on his punches. If Mitchell can get inside Burns he can do damage, and could force a stoppage if he can do it often enough, though I think his successes will be limited.

Prediction-Ricky Burns by UD12