Where now for Kevin Mitchell?

[Coco]

It depends how much last night took out of him, Mitchell has bee a pro since he was 18, been boxing since he was in nappies, and not always lived the life.
I think a fight to regroup for the British or Commonwealth title and then if that goes well and the desire is there Hearn can start looking for another opportunity.

[Elyblueaj]

Eddie tweeted Kev this morning promising him he'd get him another title shot. Like someone mentioned if Crolla beats Perez that would be the easiest option

[CheckHook]

Mitchell has been a solid fighter over the years, but is always going to fall short when matched against legit world class opposition. With respect to him, I doubt he ever picks up a strap unless the stars align and he is fighting a mediocre euro level opponent for a vacant strap. He should take a tune up, see what he has left in the tank and maybe push for a rematch or go after another world title and look to make as much money as he can before hanging them up.

[Datsue]

No idea but that was a fuckin' great fight.

Best I've seen this year, I reckon.

Kev & Jorge:

[Old bones Ian]

No one fancy a Matthews vs Mitchell fight?
If I was Hearns I'd keep Mitchell away from any big punchers, that fight last night would of chipped away a bit more resistance from Mitchell, he felt Linares's punches from the start, I wouldn't want to see Mitchell hurt much more.

[tilt]

Back to the boozer for him

[palooka]

Back to the boozer for him

Hope not tilt, booze has messed up a portion of his life already, Mitchell has positives to take from the bout and if Crolla does well he'll get a straight shot and that would be a real fight for the purists.

[tilt]

Hope he gets another shot ,he deserves it. If not back the boozer init

[handsofstone]

I expect a genuine injury to his right arm/hand will come to light and Linares will be paid well to come back over for a rematch,Mitchell more than held his own with what basically looked like 1 hand,jabs and left hooks was all he threw,if he wasn't injured then he was left hand happy

[freddydoesdallas]

Back to the boozer for him

Hope not tilt, booze has messed up a portion of his life already, Mitchell has positives to take from the bout and if Crolla does well he'll get a straight shot and that would be a real fight for the purists.

Not sure how much I buy into the booze being the problem. In the recent interview he claimed to be a strong alcoholic in the past but then admitted to having wine 9 weeks before last nights fight.

If he was an alcoholic he would not be risking it by having a drink that close to such a big fight. Surely you would just stick to soft drinks

Gets off soap box and gets back to my own wine

[forcefraser]

Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic. It`s not something you switch on and off, it`s something you try to keep under control.

If he`s been drinking wine 9 weeks before the fight then I`d argue he`s not an alcoholic, just a guy who likes a drink. There are many people who think they are alcoholic when they are actually just people who like a drink more than the average bloke. Believe me, there is a big difference.

I like a drink, but I´m not an alcoholic, I like to get high on all sorts of drugs, but I`m not a junkie either. I can take them both and leave them both. They don`t take over and I know where to draw the line after a while.

Gambling however has a different hold over me. I would never (I hope) go into another Casino as long as I live, or start betting online again. I know that if I did, it will spiral beyond all control very quickly. Thus I have a gambling problem.

Much like alcoholism, you either knock it on the head completely or it will gradually get worse until it destroys you and those around you.

[freddydoesdallas]

Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic. It`s not something you switch on and off, it`s something you try to keep under control.

If he`s been drinking wine 9 weeks before the fight then I`d argue he`s not an alcoholic, just a guy who likes a drink. There are many people who think they are alcoholic when they are actually just people who like a drink more than the average bloke. Believe me, there is a big difference.

I like a drink, but I´m not an alcoholic, I like to get high on all sorts of drugs, but I`m not a junkie either. I can take them both and leave them both. They don`t take over and I know where to draw the line after a while.

Gambling however has a different hold over me. I would never (I hope) go into another Casino as long as I live, or start betting online again. I know that if I did, it will spiral beyond all control very quickly. Thus I have a gambling problem.

Much like alcoholism, you either knock it on the head completely or it will gradually get worse until it destroys you and those around you.

Completely agree.

Seems to be a convenient excuse for him

[bripez]

Hope he gets another shot ,he deserves it. If not back the boozer init

I think that Clinton Woods won his world title at the fourth attempt so it may happen.

Generally speaking though I think that if he hasn't done it after 3 attempts then they don't really deserve another go - unless he does a proper rebuilding job, beating top contenders etc. and not just another straight shot.

It is not as if his shots were against pound for pounders and the fact that he shifts a load of tickets should not be the differentiating factor in my opinion.

[crusader]

I wonder if the fight took something out of him. The injury was grotesque and he took quite a bit of punishment, while being stopped yet again in a world title fight may be disheartening regardless of the success he had.

I think some people (especially on Twitter) are subtly blaming the loss on the injury, as if Mitchell wouldn't have lost without it, but he was generally slowing over the final few and if I recall correctly the eye didn't become horrifically swollen until the final minute or so, after Mitchell had been rocked by the right hand and hit with several follow-up punches. Like the injury Angulo suffered against Lara, it seemed to balloon within a very short period.

[black panther]

Do people believe linares to be the finest of the lightweight champs? As Mitchell was neck and neck with him. Maybe mickey bey would be a good match up, or winner of Perez/crolla

Certainly not. He's probably the weakest. Quick hands and cam crack, but he's pretty vulnerable, as the stoppage defeats show.

I'd dispute that. He was caught cold by Salgado and other than that his other two defeats were largely due to some horrible cuts.

Hope Mitchell has a good long rest and heals properly before even thinking of getting back in the ring.

He's definitely still got a lot left to offer - maybe rebuild at European with one of two fights before chasing the Linares rematch.

[Datsue]

^ Mate, Sergio Thompson smashed him to pieces. The fight was called off by a cut but he'd been nailed repeatedly & heavily floored by a career super-featherweight brought in as a soft touch. He was also running out of steam & getting pasted before his face fell apart versus DeMarco; watch it again & you can see him start to slow down well before he gets cut (& when he slowed down he began to take the punishment that led him to unravel, it wasn't just a case of "he was well ahead but then got cut & lost").

Blood or not, he'd have lost those two fights anyway; for all his offensive pizazz, Linares has a shite defence. Those winging lunging lead hooks from Mitchell that were catching him & led to the knockdown are symptomatic of his defensive flaws, & while he recovered well Saturday he definitely isn't overly durable. He's not chinny, but in world terms he's definitely vulnerable.

Excusing two of his losses to the cuts are like saying "Well Mitchell only lost because of the cuts Saturday night", as if the cuts magically appeared from nowhere whilst he was cruising to an easy gimme & were not a result of getting punched in the face 1000 times.

[SNG]

Back to the boozer for him

Hope not tilt, booze has messed up a portion of his life already, Mitchell has positives to take from the bout and if Crolla does well he'll get a straight shot and that would be a real fight for the purists.

Not sure how much I buy into the booze being the problem. In the recent interview he claimed to be a strong alcoholic in the past but then admitted to having wine 9 weeks before last nights fight.

If he was an alcoholic he would not be risking it by having a drink that close to such a big fight. Surely you would just stick to soft drinks

Gets off soap box and gets back to my own wine

Is 9 weeks too close to a fight for a drink? Also, surely sticking to soft drinks isn't the easiest option for an alcoholic.

[mickey1975]

It really is an easy option. Everything Forcefrase said is true.

[bigjack]

if Paul Smith got another crack at Abraham, Mitchell can get another crack at Linares...

Smith came out of the first fight unscathed though really,whereas Mitchell will take a long time to get over that beating,it was one of those fights that adds miles to the clock and to be fair he's had 3 goes now to make it at the top level and this was his best effort,he just isn't good enough.

[black panther]

^ Mate, Sergio Thompson smashed him to pieces. The fight was called off by a cut but he'd been nailed repeatedly & heavily floored by a career super-featherweight brought in as a soft touch. He was also running out of steam & getting pasted before his face fell apart versus DeMarco; watch it again & you can see him start to slow down well before he gets cut (& when he slowed down he began to take the punishment that led him to unravel, it wasn't just a case of "he was well ahead but then got cut & lost").

Blood or not, he'd have lost those two fights anyway; for all his offensive pizazz, Linares has a shite defence. Those winging lunging lead hooks from Mitchell that were catching him & led to the knockdown are symptomatic of his defensive flaws, & while he recovered well Saturday he definitely isn't overly durable. He's not chinny, but in world terms he's definitely vulnerable.

Excusing two of his losses to the cuts are like saying "Well Mitchell only lost because of the cuts Saturday night", as if the cuts magically appeared from nowhere whilst he was cruising to an easy gimme & were not a result of getting punched in the face 1000 times.

Ah fair enough mate - my only memory of those fights was Linares face covered in blood and Demarco steaming into him at the end of the fight.

[freddydoesdallas]

Is 9 weeks too close to a fight for a drink? Also, surely sticking to soft drinks isn't the easiest option for an alcoholic.

If you are an alcoholic then any drink is arguably too close. I'm not saying it's easy for an alcoholic, addiction is an illness. The question is whether Mitchell is an alcoholic.

As mickey said, i think Forcefraser covered it extremely well.

[veriton]

let's not forget mitchell quit in this fight, he had simply had enough. totally understandable, and he showed incredible bravery until that point, but he will know that in the heat of battle, in the biggest test of his life, he bailed out, that he couldnt go through anything to win. mentally, that knowledge will always be with him.

[SNG]

let's not forget mitchell quit in this fight, he had simply had enough. totally understandable, and he showed incredible bravery until that point, but he will know that in the heat of battle, in the biggest test of his life, he bailed out, that he couldnt go through anything to win. mentally, that knowledge will always be with him.

The ref stopped the fight.

[veriton]

yes, because mitchell went down voluntarily and didnt want to carry on.

[SNG]

yes, because mitchell went down voluntarily and didnt want to carry on.

He took a knee, and got up to fight on. The ref stopped him for his own health. Did he want to fight on? Perhaps not, probably not, but he was going to.