Next Saturday night, former Scottish WBO super featherweight champion, Ricky Burns steps into the ring against well renowned puncher, Michael Katsidis at the Wembley Arena in London in a fight that has captured the curiosity of many.

Burns shocked the whole of the United Kingdom when he managed to come back from a first round knockdown to defeat Roman Martinez on points in September last year to write a 'Cinderella Man' story for himself and capture a portion of the super featherweight championship. But an easy points victory in his first defense over Andreas Evensen rapidly attracted criticism, with boxing fans asking when he was going to step up and fight somebody worth while. Burns made two more defenses, his last ending in a farce when Dagenham challenger Nicky Cook injured his back in the first round. This occurrence only seemed to make matters worse as Cook was previously severely criticised for getting his shot after coming back with an average six round points win on the undercard of DeGale v Groves after having two years out of the ring. But it seemed that it was time for things to get serious for Burns when it was ordered that he face another fearsome puncher in Adrien Broner. However, it was soon reported, very surprisingly, that Burns could no longer make the weight for the 135lb division, and he was forced to vacate his beloved WBO title to step up to the lightweight class.

Accusations that promoter Frank Warren simply wanted to protect his fighter were soon voiced but Michael Katsidis was announced as Burns next opponent, perhaps discrediting that theory. Katsidis is at a point in his career now where he is at a cross roads, given the fact that he has suffered two defeats in a row against Juan Manuel Marquez and Robert Guerrero. Katsidis returned to his home land of Australia in his last fight to score an easy third round knockout of little known Michael Lozada, getting away from the glitz and glamour of the likes of Las Vegas which should have done him a world of good. Katsidis has demonstrated that he does not belong in the elite class, but he still has the punching power to have a chance against anybody, and that is one thing that should always be remembered! Burns has weathered the storm of strong punchers before, as he did against the likes of Martinez, but Katsidis brings with him a certain relentless pressure and he does not let his opponents off the hook at any point. He is an opportunist, and if he knows he has a chance to land a bomb, he will take it! But let's not sniff at the quality of Roman Martinez, who was an undefeated champion at the time he faced Burns. Very few were giving him a chance, and many wrote his opportunity off as something that he should be grateful for as he would never get to that level again after predictably being beaten. But how wrong we were. Ricky should have acquired a fair amount of experience at this stage, and he will need to use this experience on November 5th against an opponent who will be the most dangerous of his career!

Prediction? If this fight took place two years ago then a prediction would be easy and Katsidis would have come out of my mouth quicker than Michael could land one of his dangerous missiles. Now? This writer believes that that there is a possibility that the bout could be much closer. Ricky Burns has a chance to really catapult himself with a win over an easily recognisable name in boxing, and I imagine the sky would soon be the limit for him if he was victorious. But Katsidis has travelled to the UK to face our home fighters twice, winning over both Graham Earl and Kevin Mitchell. Can he do it a third time?

I'll be watching with eager interest.