brian mitchell

[tommo100]

the south African featherweight,how highly do you rate him??

[Autobarn]

superb boxer and did it away from home. discipline, fitness and consistency. unlucky not to win unification in tony lopez's backyard, a great fight. won the rematch with ease, with only one title (lopez's) on the line. wonderful boxer to watch, everything out of the text book. lacked physical strength and power in the title fights but he could just peck away at the challenger, with a fine variety of punches. could mark up around the eyes but his concentration was immaculate and he would come up with answers after difficult spells in fights. in terms of technique and punch output, he's one of those fighters to be studied. capable of producing strong finishes in closer fights in his opponents' backyards.

[stevedoc]

a good fighter but not in the azumah nelson league for me ,being south african mitchell had to fight around the world in the other guys back yard ,i see him beat jim mcdonell and he was just very good at everything rather than having great speed or power .

[Autobarn]

always felt he was comfortably in the same league as nelson. Mitchell was more correct and efficient, nelson less consistent but the more ferocious, intimidating and capable of something spectacular.

as can be seen in their fights with jim McDonnell, with Mitchell outboxing his man without huge incident; and with nelson following his man 'round the ring a bit, using up much more energy to get McDonnell, but obviously producing the stoppage, in what some regard as a classic contest. there was indeed a feeling that nelson was coming from behind to stop McDonnell.

[tommo100]

always felt he was comfortably in the same league as nelson. Mitchell was more correct and efficient, nelson less consistent but the more ferocious, intimidating and capable of something spectacular.

as can be seen in their fights with jim McDonnell, with Mitchell outboxing his man without huge incident; and with nelson following his man 'round the ring a bit, using up much more energy to get McDonnell, but obviously producing the stoppage, in what some regard as a classic contest. there was indeed a feeling that nelson was coming from behind to stop McDonnell.

not sure about McDonnell winning when he was stopped,nelson beat the living s**t out of him,tbh anyone even who`s half in nelson`s league must be a special fighter

[SamWise72]

I'd pick Nelson over Mitchell, but they definitely belong in the same rank.

[palooka]

As Steve said earlier Mitchell was a very proficient all rounder rather than having one over riding or note worthy skill or attribute; he was however very disciplined and mentally very strong. He had to defend his title every time in his opponents back yard, he ducked no one and faced some very good fighters. He was an excellent champion and a credit to himself.

[Bodyshot3]

Always rated Mitchell extremely highly indeed and he must surely rank as the best fighter to have emerged from South Africa. Unlike many other white South African fighters he was not a massive puncher with a come-at-you style....but a very polished technician who judged distance well, concentrated on landing lots of clean, scoring shots and was defensively very compact. He could hit hard enough to get people's respect but most of his stoppages were an accumalation of solid, accurate work.

Very interesting guy indeed and highly-respected in South Africa where I lived for a year. He did a bit of a commentating as well and came across as humble and articulate.

I am tempted to think he could have one better than Fenech and beaten a prime Nelson despite Azumah's ferocious reputation. Mitchell was the better defensive fighter, could match Fenech's work-rate and was a very smart operator when it came to fight tactics. Sadly, we'll never know.

[stevedoc]

mitchell vs mcguigan would of been a good fight ,not sure who i'd pick