Dagenham's Kevin Mitchell takes what he hopes will be the first step towards a world title winning 2012 when he meets Barcelona-based Dominican Felix Lora at the York Hall in Bethnal Green on Friday night. Mitchell - one of the most talented boxers in Britain - suffered a severe setback when he was stopped in three rounds by Aussie puncher Michael Katsidis in 2010, but rebounded spectacularly with a thrilling eighth round TKO over the previously undefeated John Murray last July.

Mitchell vs Lora will be broadcast live via Frank Warren's BoxNation TV [Sky channel 456], the action starts at 8 PM.

27 year old Kevin Mitchell [32-1, 24 KOs] became an overnight sensation with his shock 12 round points decision over the fearsome Colombian slugger Breidis Prescott in December 2009. The win on the undercard of Amir Khan 's WBA light welterweight title defense against Dmitriy Salita was particularly poignant – Prescott had demolished Khan in just 54 seconds the previous year, and was considered by some to be the uncrowned lightweight champion of the world.

Suddenly Mitchell was the hottest lightweight in the world, arguably the best boxer in Britain, and when he signed to fight highly ranked Michael Katsidis soon after, the result seemed a foregone conclusion. Katsidis had a reputation of being a big puncher, but was easy to hit and had suffered back-to-back losses in 2008. Often likened to the late Arturo Gatti, Katsidis was dismissed as a face-forward warrior, and as a result considered no match for a sharpshooter of the quality of Mitchell.

However, on the night of the fight Mitchell suicidally elected to brawl instead of box, and it became man against boy as Katsidis brushed aside Mitchell's best efforts and handed him a third-round TKO.

It was a shocking result that reverberated throughout British boxing. In the days and weeks after the fight, revelations began to emerge about Mitchell's private life, and how poorly he had prepared for the biggest night of his professional career.

Mitchell now claims to have sorted his life out, and is fully focused on becoming a world champion in 2012. Speaking to The Sun newspaper in January, Mitchell said: ''It was a bit of a downward spiral for me. I got beat by Katsidis, got myself into a little bit of trouble and paid the penalty for it. That gave me the kick up the backside to realize where I want to go.''

After a year's sabbatical from the ring, Mitchell went straight into a fight against the unbeaten WBC no.2 contender John Murray, and despite being a heavy underdog, pulled off the performance of his career, soaking up Murray's pressure early before TKO'ing his rival in the eighth round, in what was without doubt the UK's boxing comeback of 2011.

Following his spectacular win over Murray, Mitchell was in line for a crack at the then WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios, but a subsequent conviction for possessing an offensive weapon resulted in him being tagged, and prevented him from traveling to the US.

Ironically, Mitchell's victim Murray instead got the title shot against Rios, but despite a gallant effort, was stopped in 11 rounds.

Mitchell is ranked no.1 by the WBO and is the mandatory challenger to the title holder, Scotland's Ricky Burns. Mitchell vs Burns would sell out West Ham's Upton Park ground in the summer, but first he must take care of business on Friday night.

His opponent, 27-year-old Felix Lora [14-8-5, eight KOs], is a slick moving boxer-puncher who is far better than his record would suggest. The 5'7" Lora has excellent footwork, fast hands, a sharp jab and loves to load up with left and right hooks. Lora is something of boxing globetrotter, having fought in the US, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Germany, France, Venezuela, Denmark, Poland, Belgium, Serbia, the Ukraine and on Friday the UK.

He lost his pro debut in 2003 against decent American Antonio Espinosa, then went unbeaten in eight fights before dropping a six round decision to future WBC light welterweight champion Devon Alexander. All six of Lora's subsequent losses have come against solid fighters with outstanding records. He has only been stopped once - in 2008 to Germany's Oliver Guettel.

Lora was robbed in Denmark in 2010 against former two-time European challenger Martin Kristjansen, emerging with a draw despite having done enough to win, the result subsequently sending the experienced Dane into retirement.

Lora holds a draw and a win over Poland's highly rated Krzysztof Szot, the draw coming in 2010 and the win coming on a fourth-round TKO last June due to a bad cut over Szot's eye. Last time out, Lora lost a 10 round decision to another undefeated Eastern European prospect, Viktor Postol in the Ukraine.

Lora is a respectable 6-3-3 in his last 12 bouts since 2009. He is strongly built, and regularly competes at junior welterweight, so getting down to 135 pounds should mean he will be in excellent shape on Friday night.

If Mitchell is as focused as he claims he is, Lora should not prove to be too much of a problem for him, and if anything will be an excellent tune up fight for either a crack at Burns, or a rematch with Katsidis. What Mitchell must not do is take his eye off the ball, because without a shadow of a doubt Lora will be in the ring on Friday night looking to cause an upset.

Mitchell must keep his cool in the early rounds and not get into a tear-up with Lora. By the middle stages he should start to take control, and Lora could be hanging on toward the end of the fight.

The Dominican is nothing if not gutsy, so Mitchell must be prepared to go the distance, but should emerge with a clear points victory.  

Mitchell by ten round decision.

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