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Michael Katsidis has warned Kevin Mitchell "talk is cheap" ahead of their interim WBO lightweight title clash tomorrow night.
The pair meet at West Ham's Upton Park in what promises to be one of the fights of the year on UK soil. Mitchell has enjoyed the better of the verbal jousting between the two, with Katsidis preferring to keep his cards close to his chest. But the Aussie has hit back by saying: "Talk is cheap. We'll find out tomorrow night who the better man is, and I am very confident of winning this fight." Mitchell added: "The waiting is over. I've trained long and hard for this one.
"Katsidis keeps saying that he's not watched any videos of me and he hasn't got a game plan, but I don't believe that for a minute. He's going to go in there fully prepared, and so am I, and it's going to be a classic."
At Friday's weigh in, both men made the 9'9 lightweight limit at the first time of asking. Mitchell was in fact slightly heavier, at 9'8 and a half pound, with Katsidis two ounces lighter. The best tactic for Mitchell appears to be to box aggressively but within himself against Katsidis, and try and back up the champion rather than running from him. However Mitchell would not be drawn on his tactics.
"I'm not going to sit here and give the game away," he said. "I'll have to use my brain, that's all I say."
Meanwhile Katsidis' team revealed they were given little choice about Dave Parris as the referee on Saturday night. Brendon Smith, Katsidis' manager, had initially objected to the appointment of the Englishman, but was told by the WBO that he would take charge - or the Aussie would lose his title.
"I've got no problem with Dave Parris personally," said Smith. "We've got three neutral judges and we are happy with that."
Katsidis said: "I'm not bothered. I didn't need the referee or the judges agaisnt Graham Earl."
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