By Terence Dooley

London’s Kevin Mitchell has revealed that alcohol has been the toughest opponent of his boxing career thus far, but he has KO’d the demon drink in a bid to ensure that his world title dream finally comes true.

Mitchell, 39-2 (29), faces Jorge Linares, 38-3 (25), for the WBC lightweight title at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday night; the Eddie Hearn-promoted bill will be shown live on Sky Sports Box Office and Mitchell intends to show boxing fans that he is a different fighter from the one who lost his previous two world title attempts—TKO 3 again Michael Katsidis and TKO 4 versus Ricky Burns in 2010 and 2012 respectively.

“My life has changed so much,” stated the 30-year-old when speaking to The Daily Telegraph.  “If it had been a few years ago, I'd probably be in prison.  I was up to all sorts and getting in with the wrong crowd and doing the wrong things.  I was so immature.  It's amazing what a couple of years has done.

“After I got beaten by Burns, I slowly came off the drinking.  I've gone teetotal.  Back then I was still drinking on weekends.  I'd train during the week and drink on weekends.  You can't be trying to be a boxer and then being a pisshead on the side.  It doesn't work.  Also, my diet was diabolical back then.  I was messing around with my food because I was always out on the weekends.  It took me time to mature.  But I've got a good team around me, I've got my girlfriend and I've grown up.”

He added: “There were a few times when I thought my career was finished and I'd had enough.  After I got myself right with the training, though, I thought, 'I'm going to have one last crack at this.  I'm going to go into this properly'.”

As his drinking increased, Mitchell spiralled into depression only to turn things around since the Burns loss.  A run of six wins led to his third world-title challenge.  However, Linares is a dangerous opponent, so “Mighty” Mitchell will have to show a dramatic improvement from his last two world title tilts if he is to bring home a portion of the 135lb crown.

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