Tszyu overwelms Mitchell!

Ringside reports by Tommy Acosta and Christopher Bronte

Photos by Chris Cozzone

Some say that skill, boxing savvy, experience, ringsmanship, training and conditioning are key factors in a professional boxing match.

On Saturday night, Nov. 6 at the Glendale Arena in Phoenix, AZ, it was good ol' fashioned firepower that TKO'd Jr. Welterweight Sharmba Mitchell in the third round of his battle with IBF Junior Welterweight Champion Kostya Tszyu, now 31-1, 25 KOs.

At the opening bell it appeared that Mitchell, now 55-4, 31 KOs, had found a groove where he could avoid Tszyu's power, dancing in close enough to land some good left hands and right jabs and avoid getting clobbered himself. He appeared to be in control at the end of the round and there was no sign of the knee injury that had forced a TKO in his first fight with Tszyu in February, 2001.

But by round two he was neither close enough to smother punches or far enough to dance away and Tszyu's devastating right hand finally found its mark. Perhaps it was the blood drawn by Mitchell's unintentional head-butt to Tszyu's forehead or just a matter of time but Tszyu seemed to take off after that.

He stunned Mitchell with a tremendous straight-right hand, followed up with a series of rights to Mitchell's jaw that sent his opponent down to the canvas. Mitchell look slightly dazed, then surprised and then angry to find himself on the mat. He would later say that he never saw that first right hand coming.

He was up by six only to be staggered by an uppercut and yet another series of devastating right hands at the end of the bell. The 8,000 plus fight fans in attendance roared as they anticipated what would be the third and final round.

Mitchell came out ready to fight at the bell throwing jabs to keep away his opponent but again Tszyu launched a ballistic missile right that landed with the power of a thermonuclear WMD on Mitchell's jaw, knocking Mitchell down to the canvas again.

Mitchell somehow was able to get up by the count of seven only to be ferociously set upon by Tszyu, who backed him up against the ropes with right hands. Tszyu kept nailing him with rights each time Mitchell tried to counter with his left.

Mitchell managed to escape from the ropes only to be set upon in the middle of the ring by Tszyu, who was now coming in for the kill. Tszyu backed him up against the ropes for the finale. Three vicious body shots dropped Mitchell again to the canvas. At the count of seven he was up and in short order Tszyu launched two more jackhammer blows, a left and right combo to Mitchell's head, hard enough to daze him and buckle his knees.

Mercifully, referee Raul Caiz jumped in at that point and stopped the onslaught at 2:48 of the third round.

"I never expected this fight to end so early," Tszyu said after his victory. "I knew all along the right hand would work for me. I worked pretty hard. I was very confident. This is a great knockout and great victory for me."

His two-year lay-off from injuries did not seem to affect Tszyu in the fight at all and he addressed that issue afterwards.

"I believe the two years off have only added longetivity to my career," he said. "I know the lay off did me good and that I'm smarter than I was. The time off gave me a lot of time to think. I know I studied very hard for this. This fight was two years in the making."

He said that Mitchell proved to be a great fighter himself, showing the qualities of a true champion by continuing to fight despite the punishment he took.

"I was very surprised he kept getting up," he said of his opponent. "To come back like he did shows what a great champion Mitchell is."

"Things happen in boxing," Mitchell explained afterwards. "Kostya Tszyu is a great champ. He caught me with a great punch and followed up with others. I was tight in the fight and I never got my head right. I am a warrior. That is why I kept getting up. But it just wasn't my night."

Mitchell spoke of the devastating right hand in the second round that precluded his trip to the canvass and eventual defeat.

"I never saw it," he said. "I trained hard to be aware of those punches but I never saw it. It was a great punch. I was on the ground. I got up. I was pissed and I said to myself I was going to kick his butt. He stunned me. I stunned him. It was a fight until the end. But it was his night, not mine and I take my hat off to him."

Mitchell said he would probably be going up in weight to 147.

"I appreciate the opportunity to have fought Tszyu again," he said. "I will move on up and fight again in the future."

Tszyu would not commit himself to any fight or fighter in the future despite hopefuls like Ricky Hatton, (37-0) who are waiting in the wings.

"I intend to take off a couple of months and be with my family," he said. "I am the champion. I am the drawing card and I am ready for anybody."

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Guzman works for win against last-minute Morales!

The night’s chief support had WBO super bantamweight champ Joan Guzman facing off against trial horse Joe Morales . Morales was a last minute replacement as Guzman failed to make weight for a planned defence against Marcos Lincona . Guzman came in at 128 ½ lbs, claming that it was his understanding that this was not to be a title defence. So in stepped Joe Morales who proved to be a worthy foe indeed .

The fight started with Guzman looking a little tentative as he was being beaten to the punch and made to miss , however, he began to find his range towards the round’s conclusion and landed some great shot to end the round.

In the second stanza Guzman continued to impress, particularly with his body shots. Morales was hanging tough but he was being outhustled.

The third saw Maorales staggered twice by the rampaging Guzman who was catching Morales with big right hands.

The fourth round was sedate by comparison , although Guzman was still having his way and outworking the stubborn Morales.

The fifth round was all Guzman as after having hurt Morales with a big right hand on the ropes he proceeded to unleash a barrage of perhaps fifty punches. All Morales could do was cover up , which he did and managed to weather the storm and see his way out of the round.

Having expelled so much energy in the preceeding round Guzman was understandably a little spent , which allowed Morales to come on a little and force his foe back. This continued throughout the seventh and it looked as if Morales might be able to seize the moment, but Guzman came back strong in the eighth and regained control of the action. His resurgence allowed him to sweep the last three rounds as he continually pushed Morales back and winged away with the right hand which could be heard thudding away on the sides of Morales. At the end of ten rounds of action Guzman was a clear winner and this was reflected in the judges scoring: 97-93, 98- 92, 99-91 . With this sterling effort Guzman improves his record to 22-0, 17 KOs while Morales falls to 18-8, 8 KOs.

* * *

Yory Boy chases Munoz for win

In a special junior middleweight attraction veteran Yory Boy Campas pounded out a unanimous decision over very game countryman , Raul Munoz. Looking at their respective records going into the fight – Campas 84-6,69 KOs and 15 -4 , 12 KOs- it always seemed a tall order that Munoz would pull off the upset. And this proved to be the case as Campas pounded on Munoz over eight rounds. However, Munoz had nothing to be ashamed of as he certainly made a fight of it and landed enough shots of his own to keep the fight very entertaining.

The fight began with a determined looking Campas looking to impose his will from the get-go. And this he did and advanced menacingly and in a robotic manner throwing shots from all angles, although it was his hooks to the body which impressed the most . Munoz did manage to hold his own although he was constantly on the back foot , unable to stave off Campas’ advance. The fight continued in this vein for the ensuing rounds with Campas doing the lion’s share of the work and not giving Munoz any breathing space atall, but Munoz would always flurry well and land some good shots although Campas was never once troubled by the younger man’s power.

By the fifth round Campas was pretty much having it all his own way, as his terrible body assault had really knocked the stuffing out of Munoz who could be seen wincing every time Campas would hook him to the body, which was frequently. In the seventh round Munoz was knocked down although to be fair it was more a case of him being off balance , and the referee Roger Yanez had to think twice before administering the count. In the last round Campas teed off and landed some horrible looking shots, but to his great credit Munoz hung tough and and tried to finish strong. But there could be no mistake as to who the victor was whe the scores were announced which read 79-73 all in favour of Campas.

* * *

Kicking off tonight’s undercard action was a welterweight contest featuring fledgling fighters Irrael Lizzarga and Felipe Bustamante. Both fighters entered tonight’s fight having had one fight a piece under their belts., but they showed a great level of skill over their four round bout. The first round was a feeling out process for both fighters as they both tried to score with sneaky counters , however, Lizzarga was the more accurate of the two and shaved the round.

In the second stanza Lizzarga upped the tempo significantly and had great success with the lead right hand , snapping back his foe’s head frequently. From this point on Bustamante became a little gun shy and was very non-committal with his punches , which left Lizzarga to dominates matters, which he did landing shots from all angles, although it was the right hand which was particularly effective. After four rounds of action the judges were unanimous in their scoring, all three ending up with scores of 40-36. With this win Laizzarga improves to 2-0, 1 ko while the game Bustamante falls to 0-2.

* * *

In heavyweight action local “hardman” George Garcia(4-0,3 KOs) faced off against Samuel Rodriguez (1-3,1KOs). With little regard for defense Garcia stormed out of the gate and began wailing on his adversary. To his credit Rodriguez fired back which made for a very good fight indeed. Garcia had great success landing the lead right hand and his foe showed a tremendous set of whiskers in taking these shots, but as the fight wore on these shots began taking effect on Rodriguez as he became more and more reticent and unwilling top exchange. However, he still kept things interesting by firing off the occasional volley of shots. At the end of four rounds of exciting action it was clear who the winner was and the judges all agreed scoring the fight 40 -36 three times for Garcia.

* * *

In another heavyweight attraction towering Kevin Johnson (6-0,4 KOs) made short work of a diminutive Carl Evans , who was giving away 6 inches in height. Evans , came to fight and charged out in the first round throwing some heavy leather and even had Johnson pinned on the ropes for a short time, although Johnson was never troubled. However, Evans’ success was short lived as Johnson soon found his range and began pounding on his tiny opponent. Around the midway point of the round Johnson connected with a crisp left hook which dropping Evans hard. Evans rose to beat the count but was then immediately nearly decapitated by a left uppercut which ended matters immediately as the fight was waved off by referee Nico Perez at the 2:56 mark.

***

in the final walkout bout of the night, super welterweight Jonathan Ochoa, now 5-0-1, 1 KO, fought Thomas Padron, now 2-4, 1 KO, to a majority draw in their four-round bout.

In a good display of raw punching power, 140 pound Jesus Soto, now 2-0, 1 KO, stopped Justin Mercado, now 1-1, at 1:33 of the second round. Soto's aggressive style and hard punching power electrified the fight crowd at the Glendale Arena.

Heavyweight Jermaine Woods, now  9-1, 7 KOs, stopped Victor Ortiz, in the 1:15 of the third round. Woods easily overpowered his much slower and heavier opponent.

Questions or Comments? Please e-mail Tommy Acosta or Christopher Bronte

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