Last night saw two friends who turned enemies for one bout, and what an encounter it was. It always had the making of an instant classic, it was a shame that it was over by round four. Both men came out strong and punches started flying very early on. Kevin Mitchell was determined to show his Boxing ability that he showed the world against Prescott, the problem he had was Ricky Burns was always going to be a tough test due to the size and power he offers.
Mitchell came out of round one on top, he landed the better of the shots and looked the more positive, but that all turned in round two when Burns hit the Londoner with a terrific straight but it was taken and soaked up. Heading into round three the crowd were pumping and Burns seemed to feed of this energy, he settled his nerves and came on much stronger, Mitchell looked happy to stand and trade punches but knew he couldn't afford to get caught with one of Burns big left shots.
After a round that saw both fighters taking quite a bit of punishment, combinations and chest pounding, it was poised going round four. Huge shots came from Burns and Mitchell tried to match but unfortunately the Scot was to strong and caught Mitchell on the chin with an incredible left hook that saw him crash to the floor. As the crowd raised to their feet so did Mitchell, but not for long. As Burns sensed the end was near he continued to unload shots and Mitchell was down again. With just under 40 seconds left Mitchell could do nothing but try and hold on to the bell, but with one second left of the round the referee had seen enough and had to step in.
Mitchell was obviously disappointed with the stoppage but so would most Boxers be, for me it was the right call and stopped any further damage caused to Mitchell. It leaves Burns in a great position for the next opponent, Scott Harrison who also picked up a win last night has confirmed he would like the winner, but Burns may just look for a bigger pay day. With Champions Demarco and Vazquez in the same division Burns may look to try and add another belt to his WBO Championship.
We may even see Burns step up to Jr Welterweight due to his size, and we know the calibre of fighters in this division. As for Mitchell he may have to start looking elsewhere in the division for another fight but with an impressive record of only two losses that shouldn't be too hard. Its great to have some great British Lightweights amongst the Division, and i think we can now say that Burns stands above them all.
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