By Richard Hookham

Mitchell fights again in December

Amir Khan may have been heralded as British boxing's next big hope, but London hot-shot Kevin Mitchell has been steadily punching his way into the reckoning.

Khan, aged 19 and the Olympic lightweight silver medallist, seems to be on an irreversible course to ring fame and fortune, blessed as he is with uncanny speed, power and ring craft for one so young.

Ruthless televised demolitions of seven of his first nine professional opponents have only heightened the hype surrounding the light-welterweight from Bolton.

Khan's promoter, Frank Warren, has purposefully set him on a steady-as-he-goes path to future title shots, always mindful that the teenager is still serving his apprenticeship.

His theory is that Khan must be protected from the clamour to throw him in against older, wiser championship holders too early, despite the plaudits heaped on his young fighter's shoulders.

But, in Mitchell - the 2003 ABA featherweight champion - Warren has on his books another stylish colt who has already turned his own raw potential into quantifiable success.

If you go bang, crash, wallop and knock them over, you don't learn anything Kevin Mitchell

On Saturday, on the eve of his 22nd birthday, the Dagenham Destroyer came through arguably his toughest test so far.

He claimed the vacant Commonwealth super-featherweight title with a brutal 12-round 116-113, 116-112, 112-113 points win over Ghana's George Ashie at Bethnal Green's York Hall.

By coincidence, it was also Mitchell's 22nd straight win and he admitted he learned some useful lessons.

"He was a tough fighter but I knew it wasn't going to be easy and when he started throwing those big left hooks, he managed to catch me," Mitchell admitted.

"But I'm OK about that. I'm trying to get the boxing going. I could have just steamed into him but I wanted to go in and learn more.

"I got involved in a bit of a brawl, but for me that's good as I still want to learn.

"If you go bang, crash, wallop and knock them over, you don't learn anything.

Khan has blasted his way to nine straight pro victories

"But I've just got on with my career, kept winning and now I want Frank to get me a world title fight as soon as possible."

From what we saw of him against Ashie, Mitchell can certainly take a shot.

The Ghanaian landed with some fearsome windmill hooks while cleverly drawing his opponent into some punishing and dangerous close-quarter action.

Mitchell looked best when working off his solid left jab in the early rounds and, although he may wish to step up his ring education by indulging in crowd-pleasing insider trading, he may be more advised to revert to type.

At times he was worryingly rocked back on the ropes and had to battle his way out of trouble with some clever footwork.

His hand speed is a valuable weapon and he was able to rattle off some lightning counter-attacks with telling point-scoring punches.

Before Saturday's fight, Warren had talked up a possible future showdown between his two young gems, even though, for now, Khan and Mitchell are fighting at different weights.

And after Mitchell's latest win, a showdown between the two would certainly be a mouth-watering prospect.

"People keep talking about it and it would be a great fight a couple of years down the line," Warren said after Mitchell's win on Saturday.

By that time, both fighters would have matured more and any naivety between the ropes well and truly hammered out of them.

Who would win? Mitchell is three years older and even at his tender age has plenty more canvas time under his belt.

But with a slight weight advantage giving Khan greater punch penetration, the Londoner would have to box very cleverly to win any potential 'Battle of Britain'.

Khan continues to be the darling of the prime-time TV schedulers, but Mitchell certainly deserves a chance to carve out his own popularity and a possible route to world championship glory.