I totally agree that it was terrible matchmaking. Warren over-estimated Mitchell and under-estimated Katsidis. Mitchell also believed his own hype. In reality Katsidis only losses were to prime Diaz (pre-Marquez) and that very close fight with Casamayor. That is not a record to be ****ed with :deal Katsidis also seems a much improved fighter with more controlled agression.
I don't think he won first two rounds comfortably at all. He looked like he was boxing hard in them rounds and Katsidis just burst on him every now and then and when he did Mitchell was getting hit with hard crisp shots. A lot of people felt he was on slide...**** knows why when he beat Escobedo and beat him well IMO. He was beating Casamayor as well. I don't get why people underrate the Great Katsidis...hope he gets his rewards..he's Mr Boxing!!
Scoring wise he won the second comfortable but it did look like at any time Kats was gonna explode. And then he did.........
Yeah i agree. What i meant was he was boxing hard to win the rounds. He wasn't just doing his thing and looking at ease. What i liked was from crowd i could see Katsidis on back foot looking to make Mitchell think and allow Mitchell's machismo and natural instinct to attack come out and he burst on him and it's was game over!
Thought Katsidis won the first 2 rounds without trying too hard personally. He outclassed Mitchell physically with his strength and power. Also his footwork in cutting off the ring was a step above Mitchells. The biggest problem for Kevin however was that he lacked the power to discourage Katsidis and was badly outclassed as a consequence.
had it 1-1 until the inevitable happened, I thought the occasion was always going to get to Kevin, in a rematch away from East London, with correct preparation, he could eke out a points win, ANY time he tries to trade toe to toe he comes off second best, he CANNOT outpunch Katsidis, he has to box back foot and out work him.
it could be due to mitchell maybe wanting the top fights after beating prescott. i'm not sure if that is the case, but when regarding that mitchell is warren's top bill fighter at the time after losing khan, hatton and calzaghe, you would have to think that maybe warren got him a top fight to keep mitchell happy, but the top fight was too much. like i said that's just a total guess, but it could be the case. i can't really think that warren would take such a gamble for no reason against the calibre of katsidis.
Agreed. Fair play to his trainer, ive often thought Smith was a clown as Katsidis would get battered for a round then in the corner he'd say "Great work Mike, keep it up in the next round mate" but he's definitely still improving and is always in top shape. Some thought he was nearly done, I actually think he's peaking now.