By Jake Donovan
American heavyweight prospect Seth Mitchell remained unbeaten with a third round knockout against Hector Ferreyro on Friday evening at Texas Station Casino in Las Vegas.
Mitchell was in complete control from the opening bell – and really from the moment the bout was actually signed, as Ferreyro never threatened to serve as much of a challenge.
The Mexican didn’t disappoint (or did, depending on your viewpoint), serving as the proverbial punching bag for Mitchell, who took his time and put his punches together wisely without expending much energy.
Ferreyro suffered a knockdown in the second round and already showed signs of facial swelling, particularly on his right eye. The damage grew worse in the third, with Ferreyro’s right eye swollen shut by the time the mismatch was waved off.
The official time was 2:17 of round three.
Mitchell moves his record to 23-0-1 (17KO) with the win, having now scored knockouts in eight straight bouts. Ferreyro falls to 21-11-2 (12KO) in suffering his third straight loss.
A former All-American linebacker for Michigan State with a degree in criminal justice, Mitchell turned to boxing after knee injuries ended his chances of making a run of it in the NFL. A brief amateur career was enough convince the Maryland native to turn pro in 2008. Nearly four years later, he continues to serve on the learn-as-you-earn plan.
A lot of hype has surrounded Mitchell’s career, in part to his celebrated college football career but also because a promising American heavyweight is a scarce commodity these days.
That said, the matchmaking in his career to date has been criminally underwhelming.
Plans call for Mitchell to return to the ring in December, rumored for an HBO-televised slot on a soon-to-be-finalized super lightweight showdown between Amir Khan and Lamont Peterson. Mitchell was supposed to make his network debut last month against Mike Mollo, only for the bout to be scrapped when the evening’s main event between Robert Guerrero and Marcos Maidana fell through.
Sadly, Mollo represents a major upgrade over the collection of stiffs Mitchell has faced to date, though it doesn’t necessarily make it premium cable-worthy.
In the televised co-feature, Felix Diaz remained unbeaten with an eight-round decision over Larry Smith. Scores were 80-72 and 79-73 (2x) for Diaz, who captured Olympic gold as a member of the 2008 Dominican Republic boxing squad. As a pro, he improves to 10-0 (5KO), while Smith falls to 10-6 (7KO).
The card is televised in an unprecedented joint effort by Telefutura and Fox Sports.
The show kicks off a full weekend of fight action in Sin City, topped by the highly anticipated welterweight showdown between defending titlist Victor Ortiz and returning undefeated pound-for-pound entrant Floyd Mayweather.
OTHER RESULTS
Terron Grant enjoyed a successful pro debut with a four-round decision win over Alonso Leoza (0-1-1, 0KO) in their super lightweight swing bout.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.