Mitchell vs Burns will be another classic England vs Scotland

The world lightweight title bout between Englishman Kevin Mitchell and WBO champ Ricky Burns has all the makings of a classic, says David Anderson.In these islands, there are few things we love better than a clash between England and Scotland.  And now that the countries no longer go to war against each other, sport is the next best thing outlet for this rivalry.  Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your point of view, the nations rarely do battle on the football pitch anymore.  Rugby provides the most high-profile platform for this rivalry which is almost as old as time and the Calcutta Cup is a stand-out moment in the sporting calendar.  There are few other sporting scraps between the countries, which is why Ricky Burn's Battle of Britain with Kevin Mitchell is an Anglo-Scottish contest to get the pulse racing.  This is a proper fight as Scotland's WBO lightweight champ Burns puts his crown on the line against proud Englishman Mitchell.  It has the makings of another Bannockburn or Culloden, depending on which side of Hadrian's Wall you live on.  It promises to be a great scrap between two fighters who are riding the crest of a wave.

Burns announced his arrival on the world stage two years ago when he beat Roman Martinez to win the WBO super-featherweight title.  He made three defences of the strap before stepping up to campaign at lightweight.  In his first fight he beat dangerous Aussie Michael Katsidis to win the WBO's interim crown before being crowned the full champion.  Mitchell is also on the up after a difficult time.  It looked like his world title dream had gone in May 2010 when he was stopped inside three rounds by Katsidis when they fought for the WBO interim crown.  He bounced back in spectacular fashion in July 2011, handing John Murray his first pro defeat to announce his return to the big time.  After a win in a tune-up fight against Felix Lora in February, he is ready for Burns.  They will meet at Glasgow's SECC on September 22 and Burns is honoured to emulate the likes of Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank and Naseem Hamed by fighting there.  "To fight for the first time at the SECC in the biggest and most important fight of my life against Mitchell where all these great names have boxed is an unbelievable honour," he said.  "You can't get bigger names than Benn, Eubank and Naz. They're like British boxing royalty and I can't wait to get in the ring and thrill the fans like they did with their appearances there."  Bring it on!