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Readers, Weigh In On Heavyweight Seth Mitchell

Published

13 years ago

May 4, 2012

So I didn’t get a chance to process Seth Mitchell’s TKO3 win last Saturday night, on the Hopkins-Dawson undercard in Atlantic City. I supposed I can chalk up the tardiness on two accounts. One, I am too-fully immersed in all things Mayweather ahead of tomorrow’s Mayweather-Cotto bout. Two, my belief that we can find anyone to challenge the Klitschkos, and break their rear-naked choke on the heavyweight division, has dwindled. Let alone an American…I will take a rumbler from Borneo, I don’t care where someone is from if they can push Wlad and Vitali, and spring am upset on the either Brother K.

But there were things to like in the Mitchell performance against Chazz Witherspoon. Let’s get into those before we delve into the negatives, shall we?

First, this kid has pop, in both hands. He has game-changer power, and Witherspoon learned that the hard way. Second, you may not agree, you might be one of those fans who dismisses a guy as “chinny” if he gets so much as buzzed, but we learned that Mitchell’s beard has some sturdy whiskers. ‘Spoon hurled a short right cross which made Mitchell’s legs into tent poles stuck in sand. But…he didn’t go down, and he made it to the end of the round, and he cleared his head, and he came back to hurt and stop the other guy. That will stick in the head of the pride of Brandywine, Maryland, an ex Michigan State footballer, and will help him immensely as he moves up the ladder to face more fearsome hitters than ‘Spoon.

Those are my two main positive takeaway on the 29 year-old Golden Boy boxer who rose to 25-0 with 19 KOs. Now, some negatives. Not to be too nitpicky, but since you will need to have some special attributes to beat a Klitschko, our standards are high when we are assessing a potential threat to the brothers. One, Mitchell could stand to settle down, not get into free-swinging/trading/reckless mode so often. If he gets into the reckless mode against a brother, he will get dropped and likely stopped. Two, he’d be well served to not back straight up when he gets tagged, because he is a too-easy target to follow up on. Lateral, lateral, lateral, like he’s dancing down the line, eyes on the QB. Readers, feel free to weigh in with your assessments on the heavyweight hopeful, things you’ve picked up on Mitchell in his recent rise from prospect to contender.

I chatted the other day with Mitchell, and asked him his takeaways from the win. I enjoyed the talk, and was impressed, quite impressed, with his thoughtfulness, and humility.

The boxer said he got so emotional, and started crying a bit after the bout because, “I hadn’t been through that type of adversity, and the way I overcame it…If you asked me before how I’d react when getting hurt,I’d tell you I know the type of character I have. But I didn’t KNOW. You don’t till you get put in that situation.”

On Monday, he got emotional again, and cried, as he pondered the enormity of what he went through, and soaked in the gratitude at getting over that high hurdle. “I nearly got stopped in the first round! I felt so blessed,” he admitted, telling me that he was so used to winning nearly every round of his fights, that he was stung by surprise when faced with the adversity.

It will be back to the drawing board for some focus on defense in the next camp with trainer Andre Hunter, Mitchell told me. We talked about the inevitable call from the Internet geniuses who will tell him to dump the “unknown” Hunter, and he said that won’t happen, that he has come this far with the trainer and that will continue moving forward. “My trainer didn’t tell me to go in with hands down and bend over,” he said, refusing an opportunity to toss Hunter under the Greyhound. (Points to the kid for loyalty.)

I cracked up when Mitchell showed his eyes to be wide open when we discussed HBO analyst Emanuel Steward’s glowing assessment of the up ‘n comer postfight. “I’m very impressed,” Steward said. “It’s what you look for in a heavyweight. He just seemed to be physically thicker and stronger. He’s what can make the heavyweight division come back, fighters like him.”

“Manny is putting on both hats, looking for opponents for Wladimir,” he noted, sagely of the trainer-manager-analyst. He did watch the fight, and said that he didn’t think Steward would have noted after round one that he maybe could not recuperate if he knew him. “He doesn’t know me as a person. To say I don’t think he can come back…If he knew me, he would have said, ‘Chazz better watch out.”’ (Note: Mitchell for sure would have made the NFL, but his knees wouldn’t let him. He left football after finishing at MSU in 2003, after seven surgeries, six on his left knee. yeah, the kid is stubborn, in a good way.)

He will fight a Witherspoon level foe, or maybe a little step up, in September, he said. I think he’ll be tossed into the Klitchko mix by next summer, but since there is a dearth of non-retread foes, maybe that happens earlier. For his sake, I think he could use about four more fights, to tighten up that defense, but we live in an age of acceleration, a microwave society, so we shall see. Readers, could you see the pride of Brandywine, Maryland bringing a Klitschko scalp to America any time soon, or ever? Weigh in.

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Michael Woods

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

9 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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