Preview: Kevin Mitchell v Michael Katsidis

There are two big fights this weekend involving up-and-coming British fighters. In New York, Amir Khan takes on Paulie Malignaggi, while a little closer to home, at West Ham's Upton Park, local boy Kevin Mitchell fights Michael Katsidis for the WBO interim lightweight title. There's little doubt in my mind who has the more difficult task (Mitchell) and which fight will prove the more entertaining (Mitchell again.)
Unbeaten in 31 fights, Kevin Mitchell is a great little fighter: tidy, compact, but with a sting in the tail, as his last outing against Ignacio Mendoza proved. But despite impressive wins against Mendoza and Breidis Prescott among others, the suspicion remains that Mitchell may have moved up in class too soon. Graham Earl, knocked out in five rounds by Katsidis in 2007, certainly thinks so. Katsidis (pictured above) is a warrior in every sense of the word, and his Greek father even hails from the same village in Greece which is thought to have been the birthplace of Achilles. He will care not a jot that Mitchell is fighting in front of an expected 30,000 fans at the home of his beloved West Ham and will try and take him into the trenches from the start. The bookies make Mitchell a slight favourite overall but SkyBet quote both fighters at 2/1 to win by TKO or KO. My feeling is that it could go either way - sorry for stating the obvious - but I expect a war and fancy SkyBet's generous 6/1 on both fighters hitting the canvas at some point during the fight.

Preview: Amir Khan v Paulie Malignaggi

Visa problems aside, Amir Khan will make the journey to the spiritual home of boxing on Saturday, New York's Madison Square Garden, to take on Brooklyn-born Paulie Malignaggi.
One of two big fights this weekend featuring British fighters, the other being Kevin Mitchell's title fight at Upton Park against Michael Katisidis, more of which later, the bookies make Khan a 1/5 favourite to defeat the New York man in front of his own fans.
Malignaggi is a bit of a slapper, by which I mean to say he doesn't punch very hard not that he's loose of morals, and the facts bear this out. Paulie has won 27 of his 30 fights but only five of those wins came by way of knock-out. Having said that, he's a pretty durable fellow and came out of two tough fights against Juan 'Baby Bull' Diaz with his reputation enhanced. He has only been stopped once, by Britain's own Ricky Hatton back in 2008, and even that defeat went down in the record books as a 'technical' knock-out after his corner threw in the towel at the start of the 11th.
Hatton was nowhere near his best that night, but easily outclassed the 'Magic Man'.
I expect Khan to win comfortably but I wouldn't be surprised if brave Malignaggi refuses to go down easily in front of his own supporters and takes the fight to the scorecards. Sporting Bet's 13/10 about a Khan decision is the stand-out bet, with a saver on a Khan stoppage in rounds 10,11,or 12 at 13/2 with Bet365 advised.

Mayweather a bridge too far for Sugar Shane

I must admit I thought Floyd Mayweather Jr would cruise to a comfortable points win over 38-year-old 'Sugar' Shane Mosley and well, I wasn't far off. The scorecards at the end of the night reflected Mayweather's dominance with two judges scoring the fight 119 to 109 and a third giving to it to 'Pretty Boy' by a slightly narrower 118 to 110.
But that doesn't tell the whole story. In the second round 'Sugar' Shane landed two sweet right hands that had the self-proclaimed 'best-fighter-in-the-world' wobbling at the knee and holding on. For a brief moment, with the crowd brought to its feet, it looked like the unthinkable might happen. Sadly from Shane Mosley's point-of-view it was not to be and Floyd Mayweather Jr regained his composure and put on the boxing exhibition we'd all expected of him. Slick, quick, a master of the defensive arts, Mayweather got on his bike and slipped in and out of range with consummate ease. The 14 months since Sugar Shane demolished Antonio Margarito seemed to have aged him 14 years and he tired rapidly after his second round heroics came to nothing.
But for all his dominance Mayweather never really looked like finishing off Mosley inside the distance and I'd be inclined to agree with Manny Pacquiao's assessment of the fight. No one has really taken Mayweather into the trenches and tested his fighting heart in the way that I believe Pacquiao certainly would.
That fight now has to happen. There can be no more delays, false-starts or fudges. Fight fans deserve to see the world's two greatest fighters - two of the greatest ever - going head-to-head. If Floyd Mayweather's blocking tactics were intended to raise the stakes (and I believe that is exactly what 'Money Man' intended) then it's worked. Expectations ahead of a fight with Pacquiao are at fever-pitch. When seasoned boxing writers like Kevin Mitchell in The Guardian are comparing it to another Ali-Frazier, you know we're in for a treat.

Where now for Carl Froch?

I wasn't altogether surprised when I heard the news that Carl Froch had lost his first professional fight to the formidable Dane Mikkel Kessler last weekend. Froch had looked well below par in his previous 'Super-Six' outing against Andre Dirrell and it was always going to be tough taking on the remarkably durable Kessler in his own backyard.
Froch's preparation for the fight was further hampered by an ear infection and the volcanic ash situation but the Nottingham-man, to his credit, has never been one for excuses. Having finally watched the fight - it's been a busy week, don't ask - I have some sympathy with those members of Froch's camp who have complained about the scoring. To be honest, I think the verdict was a fair one. Froch has an infuriating habit of keeping his hands dangling near his waist and a tendency to stand back and admire his handiwork after landing big shots instead of pressing home his advantage and finishing the job. He didn't do enough to keep his WBC title and he probably knows it. Having said that I have no clue how one of the judges scored the fight 117-111 to Kessler. Was he watching the same fight? Most of the rounds were pretty close and Froch had the better of the early exchanges in what was, at times, an enthralling fight. The last two rounds in particular will live long in the memory and marked perhaps the first time this Super-Six contest has really kicked into life. Froch has nothing to be ashamed of, none of the fighters taking part in the contest have won away from home so far and it was always going to be a big ask taking on Kessler in front of 10,000 partisan Danes. With a 1-1 record from his first two fights in the competition, Froch is far from out of it, and could still figure in the final reckoning to decide the world's best super-middleweight. Unless, as reports suggest, he rules himself out of the competition because of a dispute over the venue of his next fight with Arthur Abraham. That would be foolish.