KEVIN MITCHELL V ALEX ARTHUR

[THE PRINTER]

DECEMBER 11.U HEARD IT HERE FIRST

[bignuts]

got to favour mitchell in this one arthur looks a shadow of his former glory these days

[goldbird]

Wouldn't be surprised to see Arthur outbox him though. Mitchell was thouroughly exposed and embarrassed by katsidis last time.

[stevek3lly]

Good comeback fight for Mitchell if it happens.

[Autobarn]

good fight if it happens. lightweight i presume?

[black panther]

It would have to be at lightweight - I can't see Arthur making superfeatherweight any more. A win or retire type of fight for Arthur. I'll actually be routing for him.

[billy nelson]

IMO neither alex or kevin will ever make SFW again and this would be a good fight for both.I must disagree with the ststement Mitchell was embareesed by kasitas,i thought he was boxing ok and got caught with a very good shot these things happen in boxing its all about how kevin bounces back.

[HomeOfBritishBoxing]

Wouldn't be surprised to see Arthur outbox him though. Mitchell was thouroughly exposed and embarrassed by katsidis last time.

no chance arthur outboxes kevin. mitchell will stop him. kev didn't get embarassed by katsidis, he was just in with a beast.

[jessi]

Good match up, both have there career to fight for, especially arthur, will it be the usual undercard ? walsh brothers, vinny mitchell, gavin, degale, and billy joe saunders..... should be good.

Anyone know whats happened to jamie cox ?

[DougieC30]

This would/will be a good fight, will be routing for Arthur but i really like Mitchells style.. He boxed really good behind his jab for the first 2 rounds against Katsidis then got caught with the left hand early in the round.. does Arthur still have it in him? How will Mitchell return from defeat? Lets hope this fight gets the go-ahead

[Carbo]

Wouldn't be surprised to see Arthur outbox him though. Mitchell was thouroughly exposed and embarrassed by katsidis last time.

no chance arthur outboxes kevin. mitchell will stop him. kev didn't get embarassed by katsidis, he was just in with a beast.

Sorry, but Mitchell at least should feel embarrassed about what happened against Katsidis. The man has been hyped beyond belief for years, brought along at a very leisurely pace, and in his first decent test, was blasted away. Katsidis might be strong and aggressive, but he's been found wanting both times he's approached world class. And yet he demolished Mitchell.

So, yes, it should feel like an embarrassing defeat.

This is a really good fight if it happens. What the Americans call a crossroads fight. Winner gets another shot, loser is in trouble. If Arthur loses, you'd have to say it was the end for him; if Mitchell loses, it'll be a long way back with plenty of questions about how far he can actually go.

It's difficult to know how much Arthur has left, because since losing to Cook, he's been fighting at 140, and having seen Nigel Wright a few times live, I can tell you, he won't have been an easy opponent for a naturally smaller man to come back against (southpaw, decent defence, nice technique, excellent shape, solid).

He probably won't be what he was, but he's been operating at a far higher quality than Mitchell for a long, long time, and who's to say that he won't bring it all with everything on the line?

Excellent fight by Warren if it's made, and a good gut check for Mitchell.

[Autobarn]

definitely not the fight it could have been.

[bennie]

Dagenham’s Kevin Mitchell returns from his first defeat when he takes on falling Edinburgh star Alex Arthur in a crossroads battle in London on December 11.
Lightweight Mitchell, 31-1 (23), never got into his fight with Aussie hard nut Michael Katsidis at Upton Park in May, going down in three rounds in front of a big crowd. There were the usual excuses following such an emphatic defeat, none of them believable. Mitchell simply got his butt kicked by the better man on the night.
Arthur got his own butt kicked seven years ago by Michael Gomez and came back, unabashed, to wrest the WBO super-featherweight title. However, he stayed at 130 pounds too long and now 32 – six years older than Mitchell – looks ready for the taking. He has, in fact, lost two of his last four fights, although he outscored seasoned Londoner Peter McDonagh over eight rounds in Glasgow earlier this month. Alex would have walked right through McDonagh a couple of years ago (and probably Mitchell), but boxing is all about timing.
The brash, talented Mitchell will be smarting after Katsidis and will want to make a statement. He can’t afford to lose two in a row, and while Arthur has enough experience to prove sporadically dangerous and holds a good-looking win over Ricky Burns, I can see the quicker, fresher Mitchell outboxing and outpointing the Scot.

[Lenny]

The Arthur who beat Guliakevich would be too much for Mitchell but he is a long way from that form. Should be a cracking fight though with Mitchell coming out on top

[Grays_Dan]

If this is the case I take it this would not be a early fight as isnt that what Alex Arthur has previously moaned about with Frank putting him on at 6pm at almost empty venues

[ourkid1984]

This will be a late stoppage win for Mitchell. He didn't get embararessed by Kastidis, he was beat by a quicker, harder puncher.

This looks like it has Arthur's retirement all over it for me.

[Baboon]

Hate to say it, as I like Arthur and have always supported him, but this smacks of him being brought in as the "opponent". He missed the boat around 2005/6 of fighting regularly at world level, the Arthur that beat Sinitsin and Guliakevich was a quality offensive boxer with a very good dig on him. It's a shame that he'll be remembered more for the Gomez defeat and the fact that he got handed his world title belt rather than as the best boxer to come out of Scotland for the past 25 years, which I honestly think he had the talent to be. Sadly I don't think the achievements meet the talents. Losing to Cook was poor (Rolled out excuse - "Couldn't make the weight"), losing to Wright (Rolled out excuse - "He was a light welter") really probably should have signalled the end.

There's no excuses this time. Mitchell's the same size and Katsidis showed he's beatable. Nothing I'd like to see more than Alex win this and get one more crack at a title, but I can't get past the logic of if you can't beat wright, how the hell do you beat a Katsidis/Marquez....