Mitchell-Katsidis II and Murray-Rios look likely!

Brawling against a guy with heavier hands and better punch resistance would be a tough ask for Katsidis. I actually would like him to take his time and make a few quid before he steps up to fight for the title again. Mitchell was taken out without taking a lot of damage but Kats took too many for my liking against JMM

 

And against Guerrero. That was a horrible style match-up for Michael. His trainer/manager should have vetoed that.

 

Agreed. Katsidis is just too Spartan for his own good. That's why I didn't complain that he was going to have that rematch with Earl. Please just go a year without taking damage mate!

 

I wonder if Frank thinks he won't be around long enough to see the benefits of taking it slowly with him?

I liked the career path you wrote for Mitchell t'other day.

 

Thank you. I do like Kevin, he's very talented and almost always entertaining. But seeing him struggle with Murray and get backed up like that tells me he needs time to grow and improve his skills.

Tibbs is a good fit, but he needs better sparring and opponents that will test him in different ways. Rios isn't the terminator some say he is, but he is very good at what he does. He just runs guys over.

 

I like him a lot, but if Murray could punch like Kats, Mitchell would have lost early again.

People seem to ignore this and claim him to have shown tremendous improvements.

 

I honestly my have been watching a different fight from everyone else. Ive seen it a few times, and i see him have success in the 2nd and a bit in the 5th. But other than that, Mitchell was dodging and weaving well on the ropes IMO

 

I'm not saying he didn't have success. Clearly he did.

I had him 4-2 up at the time of the stoppage and he was obviously winning the 7th.

I am saying he wouldn't have had that ongoing success had it been Katsidis landing the same shots early that Murray did.

 

At the end of the day, you can only beat what's in front of ya. Mitchell, for me, won the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th and knocked his man out in the 8th.

Murray on the other hand, had more success in the 2nd and 5th.

5-2 at the time of the stoppage, against a very good domestic fighter, which the bookies, and the majority of posters on here, thought would win. And that came off of a 14 month lay off.

For me, this points to 1 thing, Mitchell is a level above the European champion. Is he ready for Rios, Soto, Guerrero, JMM - **** no!!!

Is he ready for fringe world title challangers like Katsidis, DeMarco, Vazquez, even Antillon - the answer has to be yes IMO. Would i personally put him in there with 1 of these right away? Probably not. I'd have 1 more fight, maybe against a Crolla or something, then make his move.

 

Rios isn't anything special, although he would probably beat Murray, especially after coming off such a bad desfeat from Mitchell. It don't seem right to me... although I'm just excited about Mitchell facing Katsidis for the WBO title.

I think Mitchell beats Rios and Katsidis

 

Was he? What was up with his face then? He got caught a hell of a lot and was hurt a few times

 

When exactly? He was caught in the second twice. The first time seemed to shake him a little, and the second time he managed a wink at Jim Tibbs in the corner

 

I dont think so mate he was getting caught a hell of a lot. i like Mitchell, but lets not pretend here he ships far too many shots

 

There is a lot of truth to this.

When watching the fight, I spent a lot of time screaming at the TV for Mitchell to stay away from the ropes. Murray was having a lot of success, and you get the impression that if he [Murray] was as powerful and as tough as Katsidis, Mitchell would have been in serious trouble.

 

you thought Murray was going to win the fight??