Kevin Mitchell slumps to the canvas, and the end is nigh in the fourth round on Saturday night in Glasgow

Kevin Mitchell faces the fight of his life to achieve his long time ambition of becoming a world champion, following his four-round defeat at the hands of super Scot Ricky Burns in Glasgow on Saturday night.

The fighter from Dagenham, but based at Canning Town’s TKO Gym, insists he will not make the same mistake that he made after his previous world title defeat against Michael Katsidis at West Ham in 2010, when he stayed out of the ring for more that a year.

“I need to get out there fighting,” he insisted after losing his WBO world title bid.

His two fights in two years was hardly enough against a classy champion who fought six world title contests in the same period.

“This is a learning curve – I need to get back in there regularly,” said the challenger who admitted: “I had a lot of depression after the Katsidis fight.”

Two losses in 35 contests hardly write off the 27-year-old Mitchell, but he knows it will need an almighty effort to rise above European level and get the big money world title matches.