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Kevin Mitchell stopped in three rounds by Michael Katsidis

• Greek-Australian sees off British lightweight challenger
• 14,000 at Upton Park to support Mitchell

A mere early morning training run from his beloved Dagenham manor, Kevin Mitchell's supposedly rising career was given an unwanted pause by Michael Katsidis before 14,000 fans at Upton Park, including actor Ray Winstone and Joe Cole, who came straight from helping Chelsea to the FA Cup at Wembley.

The resulting press conference became a minor inquisition, with Jimmy Tibbs, Mitchell's trainer, unable to keep the lid on why he believed the defeat arrived. He said: "Preparation – if you want to be a world champion at any level you've got live a life. I told him weeks ago, you are not preparing like you did for Breidis Prescott [beaten by Mitchell last December]."

To his credit, the 25-year-old was honest enough to admit: "About five weeks ago I wasn't preparing myself right. One minute I'm living at my mum's, the next at my flat – I was in shape, but he did the job."

This came as a revelation to Frank Warren, Mitchell's promoter, who reacted sharply. "It really pisses me off when I hear this," he said. "If he don't play the game, don't waste my time. Kevin now has to really learn from this; if he wants to be a world champion and play the game, I'm the person to help him. But can he come back? I think he can."

Hoping to claim the WBO interim lightweight world title from Katsidis, Mitchell's hopes were extinguished after only 1 minute 57 seconds of the third round, courtesy of a flint-hard opponent whose last trip to the capital three years ago served notice of his menace. That outing had been a war with Graham Earl, which Katsidis had ended in the fifth to light up the Greek-Australian's name on these shores and allow him to move on to America, where he twice claimed this belt, having suffered back-to-back losses between those triumphs.

Before this clash Mitchell had been honest enough to concede that nearly all fighters lose in their careers: the challenge is how they return, he reckoned. Yet the 25-year-old will hate the experience of what was a very public disrobing of his boxing smarts.

"It's one of those things, I knew it was a big punch and I knew it was very heavy handed," Mitchell said of the left hook that effectively ended his night. "He did well, moved off me, boxed me, lured me in for the attack; the bang caught me. Good shot, good fighter; [but] I'll come back from that. You can't be making mistakes in a game like that. I made a mistake and I paid for it."

Mitchell admitted he had been fooled by what he thought were Katsidis's tactics. He added: "My game plan was perfect in the first round. Then I've seen him take a walk in the second, so I sat on him a little bit, but he rushed me and I went back in a straight line; that wasn't my plan to go back in a straight line. And he caught me with one. It's a wake up call to be more professional, be a bit more aware in the ring. But I'll be back in after summer, ready to go again – 100%. I still think I can win a world title."

Mitchell, whose ring name "The Hammer" offers a clue to his footballing allegiance, had strolled in to his biggest night on the canvas to a stirring rendition of the national anthem by Stacey Solomon, of X-factor fame.

Yet while each man had promised a tear-up of the other's features, it was Mitchell who was about to be offered the lesson in simple, relentless punching. The opening round featured the local boy being clipped by the older boxer, who knocked him on to the ropes to trap him there with worrying ease under a barrage of fists.

If Tibbs warned his man to stay away from the corners and ropes during the break between the first and second three minutes, the 24-year-old failed to hear. Katsidis is known for an almost atavistic preference for squaring the ring off, and he fought the second perpetually moving forward. This time, though, he did find a Mitchell who managed to mix his scampering footwork with some sweetly smooth combinations. The third round, though, was about to unfold.

Earlier James "Chunky" DeGale, the reigning Olympic middleweight champion, won the vacant WBA international super-middleweight belt, a lesser rated title, against Sam Horton in the fifth, with a three-punch combination that ended in a right that spun his opponent to the floor. "I want to be world champion by 2012," he said.

In the final professional fight before retiring, Danny Williams ended his career with a disappointing second round knockout from the fists of Derek "Del Boy" Chisora, who became the new British heavyweight champion.