Kevin Mitchell - was poor training an issue in only three rounds?

Maybe it was a mental thing, soon as he got tagged, and he got tagged big, he starts to worry whether it was due to him not preparing properly, also the worry would be how many more of these can i take etc etc and all of a sudden he's resigned himself to the fate he's gonna lose.

 

This is just a guess but he could have gone into the fight not fully confident of being able to win the fight knowing he had not had a good training camp and knowing he may not be able to the last the distance

 

Mitchell looked like he was bricking it before getting through the ropes...jogging to the ring is never a good sign, nervous tension. The truth of the matter is that Katsidis was way too strong for Kevin, and to be frank a class above, thats why Mitchell lost.

Having said that it isn't good to see a fighter who has just stepped up a division having to get completely stripped off at the weigh-in just to make weight, this could be a signal that all was not well in the camp...he looked flabby at the weight.

 

I think if you go into a fight knowing deep inside that you haven't prepared 100% it will no doubt effect you mentally, absolutely. Lack of conditioning and a struggle to make weight (as Mitchell admitted and was evidenced by him stripping naked to make weight) could also effect your ability to hold a shot.

That being said, i still think the biggest factor was Mitchell's lack of competition going in to the fight, he simply wasn't ready and it was man against boy in there. I don't think he's a lightweight and Katsidis beats him 99 times out of 100 however prepared he turns up.

 

I don't think its even relevant because Mitchell hardly threw a power punch. You're never going to beat a guy like that without getting respect. His mindset was all wrong, confident or not you have to throw a punch in anger or you're toast.

 

Spot on...I fully expected Mitchells first punch in anger to be a big lead right hand but it just never materialised

 

I said on fight night that Mitchell looked soft at the weight. As Ice says, not a good sign when he'd just moved there because 130 was a struggle.

 

Even if you're soft you can throw a punch. James Toney does :yep

He just never did a damn thing. It was pretty obvious he wasn't stronger physically in close, that would be expected, all the more reason to catch the guy with big shots to give him something to think about. He should have thrown his best artillery. If he knew he didn't have great conditioning because of camp or whatever so be it, but at least go out on your shield knowing you gave it your best on the night. He went out with a whimper because he didn't try anything aside from a tentative jab.

 

The Only issue was that the other man was a better athlete and fighter then him. I said as he walked into ring..he's getting knocked out within 4. I just had a feeling because me and Hairy had a conversation about the towel being used at weigh in and fact he looked like a boy to Katsidis and i also said Katisidis ain't Prescott who telegraphs shots.

No excuses Kevin was bashed up in his own back yard.

 

He had a master-boxer reputation to uphold after the Prescott fight. I guess he fancied himself to hopefully not have to get stuck in against Kats and win with a Willie Pep type display.

 

I suppose he might have been 'working' his way into the fight. To be fair if that was the plan he didn't do too bad of a job, he did okay in round 1 and won the 2nd IMO.

Only problem was he got KTFO in round 3 and we're looking back in hindsight. It doesn't look too clever when that happens and you havn't thrown a right hand or a left hook.

 

Had Mitchell won we'd never have heard anything about this. If he suffered a late KO then I'd at least see some logic in blaming the performance on a bad camp, but he's a big boy now and he was trounced in 3 rounds. I got shot down for saying pre-fight that Kats looked a lot bigger than Mitchell and it was evident in the fight. Kats walked through everything that Mitchell landed and Mitchell looked like a bunny in headlights whenever Kats landed something- even in the first he looked like he was about to **** himself when Kats landed near the ropes.

It boils down to this: Katsidis was much bigger, much stronger, much better prepared and a much, much better fighter with a much better record against much better fighters. That's too much.

 

If he'd have planted his feet in Round 1, tried to get Kats respect and got KO'd we'd all be saying what a dumb thing that was to do and that he should have tried to box for a few rounds until some of sting went out of Kats punches.

Hindsight!!:good

I just don't think he had the tools for the job when all said and done.

 

Yep, he couldn't take the punch plain and simple. Katsidis is always going to land punches being such a risk tasker. He's always in position to throw punches, and take punches himself. Mitchell just didn't have the chin to take them from a genuine puncher. I guess we all put too much stock in his chin after Prescott, we probably should have paid more attention to when he was stunned by Johanesson and Estrada but we all got duped by it myself included.

Mitchell never bought a lottery ticket in there though, I bet he lies awake regretting that. He might have had the power to hit the jackpot, he might not. Katsidis's resistance doesn't convince me, I think he tries to bluff people in there with his style.