One day, Kevin Mitchell and Amir Khan should meet in the ring. But, such are the machinations of boxing politics, the prospect of this happening makes putting together a coalition to run the country look like a squabble over a parking spot.
For now, these excellent young British fighters are conducting their business 3,000 miles and five pounds in weight apart in major title fights on competing UK television channels, Sky and ITV, for different promoters on the same night.
Certainly, Mitchell is itching to fight Khan. And, if he takes the interim version of the WBO's lightweight championship from the Australian Michael Katsidis at Upton Park on Saturday night, he will have made another definitive statement at world level, albeit in the division below his Bolton rival, who defends his WBA light-welterweight belt against Paulie Malignaggi at Madison Square Garden a few hours later.
If their parallel careers do not converge, it will be either because of American-promoted Khan's reluctance to look back to the UK for his big paydays or the intransigence of the fighters' connections, Frank Warren for Mitchell and Oscar De La Hoya for Khan – who recently split with Warren.
Saturday night's two contests could hardly be more different: West Ham fan Mitchell is headed for a very physical confrontation in his own backyard against an Australian for whom going backwards is an alien concept, while Khan travels to the spiritual home of modern boxing for what should be a chess match against a fleet-footed, light-hitting New Yorker.
I fancy Mitchell to be too slick for Katsidis, whose determination and punch make him a dangerous if easy-to-find opponent. The Dagenham fighter surprised all but himself and his new trainer Jimmy Tibbs when he abandoned his kamikaze fighting style to outbox Khan's one-round conqueror, Breidis Prescott, methodically over 12 rounds last year.
Last time out, in February, he displayed his growing power with a perfect right that lifted the tough Ignacio Mendoza clean off his feet and dumped him on his backside for the full count in round two.
While Katsidis – remembered here for his five-round war with Graham Earl three years ago – has moved in better company, losing in thrillers to Joel Casamayor and Juan Díaz, his recent CV is less impressive. He is a fire-tested 29-year-old campaigner who only kept his interim title with a split decision over Vicente Escobedo in September.
"This is a massive fight for me," Mitchell says. "It will move me into the big time. We're two come-forward fighters, two punchers. We both love having tear-ups. We've proved that throughout our careers. But, when you fight the way we do, when you come forward, you can't just be rushing in throwing bombs at each other. When you fight the way we do, it's not clumsiness. It's tactical as well.
"I can't be giving away tactics, but they won't be the same as I used against Prescott. Prescott is a one-punch man, but Michael throws loads of punches, so I've got to build my tactics around that. Michael's been in there with top-class fighters. He's shown his heart, dug in deep."
On Khan's fight, Mitchell says: "I think he wins, but he took an easy option there. It won't be anything like the fight between me and Michael. We've both taken a bigger gamble than he has in that one, definitely. This shows what I'm about. I'd fight Juan Manuel Márquez too. I'll let Frank take care of all that. I'm just concentrating on this one."
To complicate the picture, Márquez owns what we are led to regard in boxing's confusing hierarchy as the WBO's full lightweight title, and defends it against Diaz at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on 31 July. Adding mystery to confusion, Márquez has hinted he will vacate that title, as he is still prepared to go up to light-welterweight and tempt Ricky Hatton out of his on-off retirement. Hatton is a walking contradiction of the song they belted out for him – "There's only one Ricky Hatton" – yet he may still box again if he can shift the lard and especially if he is part of the promotion.
For the moment, Warren is not thinking about Khan as a potential opponent for Mitchell. "If Kevin wins," the promoter says, "there are some massive fights out there for him. We are still waiting to hear from the WBO whether or not Márquez is vacating. If he isn't, then he has to fight Kevin pretty sharpish. If he is, then Kevin will fight the next in line [currently the Argentinian Jorge Barrios] if he beats Katsidis."
Khan, who has had to cool his heels in Vancouver waiting for his US visa to come through – he is due to fly to New York today – responded to Mitchell's put-down: "I think that's another fighter trying to make a name for himself on my back. This is going to be a very good fight. Malignaggi has been in with Hatton and is a clever, tough fighter. I have been hitting harder and harder in training and am very pleased with my preparation."
So is his trainer, Freddie Roach, who reckons Malignaggi has not been showing much respect for the sport with claims that Khan's stablemate, Manny Pacquiao, needs to prove he is not on performance-enhancing drugs. "He's an asshole," Roach said succinctly. "We're going to knock him out." I think he's right – on the second point, at least.
Source: guardian.co.uk
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