BoxRec

That fight was the making of him. I thought he's spent himself after the first few rounds and then Carl got back into it and had Kev all over the place in round 6, but good fitness and determination saw Mitchell stop Carl in the end. This was his coming of age fight - he's up and running now.

Mitchell proved how tough he is, and he can be a domestic force for years to come.

Wish they would lay off the numerous world title's he will hold in the future talk though!

Delusional.

I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed his fight last night, and I can see him being involved in some right tear ups in the future.

I thought last night showed the best and worst of Mitchell. Great heart and fighting instinct, coupled with some really nice moves, but just cannot resist getting involved in tear-up and ships so many shots that he just shouldn't be taking.
Despite the stoppage I also think he really overestimates his own punching power - if he focused on his strengths and boxed more I could see him becoming a fringe world title contender, but consistently getting dragged into wars like that will severely limit his career.

Was the stoppage premature? From where I was sitting its hard to tell

whicker wrote:Was the stoppage premature? From where I was sitting its hard to tell

Ian John Lewis was da wefereeeeeee and he usually stops most fight way too early, but I think CJ was finished.

DG. wrote:

whicker wrote:Was the stoppage premature? From where I was sitting its hard to tell

Ian John Lewis was da wefereeeeeee and he usually stops most fight way too early, but I think CJ was finished.

Yep, most tellingly CJ and Maloney didn't protest the stoppage. Carl was a spent force.

Great fight. I thought Mitchell was finished at the end of the 6th, but he came back out and showed he's not just a hype job. What a show of fitness in his toughest test.

That comeback from Mitchell just broke Johanneson. Superb display.

Really enjoyed the fight.I thought after a few rounds that Mitchell would simply just dominate with his speed but he got dragged into a bit of a war and did well to stay up in the 6th.

You could tell Carl was gone in the 9th.

Cracking fight. Outstanding action. Mitchell has some speed and combos, the way he would flurry and drive Carl back over the first three. But as I've brought up before, Mitchell loses all his defense when he gets hurt. I was convinced Carl was going to stop him after rds 5 and 6. Carl was taking the sting out of Mitchell and hurting him with shotgun jabs and flush left hook counters. Credit to Mitchell for pulling it out. The fieriness that made him get beaten up midway allowed him to stop his foe.

Mitchell was good in the last round. He had some space and he got behind a lovely double jab-left hook, then mixed his attacks, hurting Carl's body and then going in for the kill.

Can't help but think that we'll see Mitchell's best up at lightweight. Mitchell is very big looking at 130. I don't think fighting down to smaller, more compact opponents who can punch up to his open chin will do that much for him.

Not sure how far Mitchell will go. If he wants to go above WBU type level, he will have to fix his defense and use a disciplined boxng approach.

yiddo14 wrote:Mitchell proved how tough he is, and he can be a domestic force for years to come.

Wish they would lay off the numerous world title's he will hold in the future talk though!

Delusional.

I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed his fight last night, and I can see him being involved in some right tear ups in the future.

Totally agree, but can he really cut the mustard at world level?

He has the speed, variety and guts. But right now he doesn't have the defense or ability to stick to a game plan.

Great domestic fight. This was worth the wait all these months.

Credit to Carl as well. What a gutsy, exciting fighter.

Who next for Kevin?

leforge wrote:Who next for Kevin?

I'm not too sure, but at first thought, a good rest & a lot of work on his defense. Mitchell got hit far too much by shots he shouldn't have in my opinion. Kevin may have indeed showed durability in taking the punches, but he cannot afford to keep doing so.

All the talk of a possible bout with Amir Khan must stop. If Johanneson coul hit Mitchell with a lot of punches, then Khan would TKO Mitchell. Khan would too big, strong & sharp for Mitchell.

i think mitchell is another version of john duddy !!

always in a tear up, this is not good for a long career...

rhino222 wrote:i think mitchell is another version of john duddy !!

always in a tear up, this is not good for a long career...

Unlike Duddy, Kev showed boxing ability In the 1st 3 rounds.

Mitchell is still young and still could improve further.

I compare him to Hatton in some ways.

Ricky didn't look like he could go a great deal further than Eamon Magee's level after they fought but he kicked on - you never know Mitchell might do the same.

This could have been Mitchell's 'Magee' fight.

I think he has found his level to be honest - He's always been open and pretty easy to hit.

His youth and vitality is going to get him out of these situations at British level, but any higher and my guess he will come unstuck.

Kevin Mitchell proved me wrong in the Johanesson fight.

Until that fight I questioned Mitchell's ability to dig deep - he clearly did and in spurts he showed some bloody good skills.

As stated in another thread Mitchell reminded me at stages in that Johanesson fight of what Haye attempted in the Thompson fight by almost punching himself to a standstill - Mitchell eventually listened to his corner and boxed and did it very well indeed.

A fantastic learning fight for Mitchell and absolutely his best performance to date - I really hope he takes a lot from the fight.

Mitchell mae a fan of me, for the first 2 rounds he looked like the Chav Sugar RAy Robinson, then he became the new Autoro Gatti.

This fight was all that is great about British square offs.

Kevin showed he has some great attributes - good chin, fast hands, good stamina,heart and decent pop. Although he's not a concussive puncher, very few are at the highest level. On that showing his defensive faults would see him beaten at the top level but I feel he's a work in progess and the Johansen fight would have done him the world of good in terms of his progress. I think its conceivable he could end up fighting for a big four world title at some point if he improves his temperament and sticks to his boxing and concentrating on his defense rather than trying to bomb the guy outta there. For those who say he won't get past Euro level - have you seen Mzonke Fana? He's the current IBF champion and he's definitely not much better than Mitchell. But as far as becoming an "elite" fighter, I think thats beyond him - Amir Khan looks like he has the potential to reach that level.

Although I always thought Kevin was good, after that showing he has really impressed me, especialy with the character he showed, to be honest I didn't think he had what he showed the other night, I really would not be surprised if Kevin does a Gomez on Arthur if they ever meet, and I never believed I would think that before sat, Im not just raving over one result, Kevin showed more than just a result in that fight, now we know he's got it in him to dig deep

Outstanding performances from both challenger and champion.

Mitchell beat a premium British champ and deserves huge respect for the desire he showed in this fight becuase Johannson made him dig deeper than he has ever had to before.

I hope he sticks to a solid, traditional path from here onwards, because it would be a travesty if, after such a gritty showing, he ends up getting slagged off for being involved in sad WBU fights down the line.

Ideally I'd like to see Mitchell defend the British/Commonwealth and then launch an all-out attack on the European. Needs to work on his defence for sure, but the guts and offensive skills are in good supply.