• Ricky Burns v Kevin Mitchell

Mitchell going for 'superstar' status against Burns

Kevin Mitchell has acknowledged that his match-up with Ricky Burns could be his last opportunity © Getty Images

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Kevin Mitchell is aiming to secure not only the WBO lightweight belt when he takes on defending champion Ricky Burns this weekend in Glasgow, he wants to become a "superstar" with victory over the Scot in what he admits could be his "last big chance".

Mitchell will go for the title for a second time having lost to Michael Katsidis two years ago, and while he has recovered well from the only blemish on his professional record with wins over John Murray and Felix Lora he faces a tough opponent who has seen off Katsidis and Paulus Moses in his last two fights.

"I'm very hungry," said Mitchell. "I could say it's probably my last big chance.

"I've worked like an animal. The training I've done has been crazy. I want this world title.

"Saturday night when I win it, I'll become a household name overnight.

"I'll become a superstar and that's where I want to earn my money and my kids' future earnings.

"So basically it's my kids' future that I'm trying to stabilise, and that's a big motive for me."

Mitchell says his physical and mental wellbeing could not be in starker contrast to when he was stopped by Katsidis inside three rounds in a brutal encounter in London in May 2010.

"There were days I didn't even turn up for the gym. Two or three days at a time," said the 27-year-old of his preparations, or lack of, for that fight prior to which he was experiencing domestic issues.

"I wasn't going running, I just wasn't prepared mentally, I had a lot of problems.

"I was an inexperienced young boy. I should have pulled out that night, I shouldn't have gone ahead with the fight.

"But me being headstrong, and I'm not a bottle-dropper, I wouldn't pull out. There was an inexperience in me but as a man I have come on bundles since then.

"This time round I've been training hard, working hard and happy in myself. And basically you can't beat a happy fighter."

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