By Lem Satterfield
While heavyweight prospect and soon-to-be contender Seth Mitchell of Brandywine, MD., was pleased with his May 13, Showtime-televised debut and the first-round knockout of Nicaraguan Evans "The Sandman" Quinn of Miami, the 6-foot-2, 245-pounder was also analytical, critical and realistic concerning the result.
On the way to scoring his seventh consecutive knockout, his ninth stoppage in his past 10 fights, and his 20th straight victory, the 28-year-old Mitchell (22-0-1, 16 knockouts) evenly distributed an assortment of punches to the head and body from behind a double-, and, triple-jab, all while employing competent footwork to cut off the ring and trap his opponent before a thrilled crowd at the 6,500 capacity Buffalo Bill's Star of The Desert Arena in Primm, Nevada.
Promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, Mitchell capped a 15-to-20 punch barrage with a clubbing, overhand right that dropped the 27-year-old Quinn (20-6-1, 18 KOs) to all fours. There, Quinn stayed until referee Joe Cortez reached the 10-count, waving an end to the fight at 2 minutes, 28 seconds.
The 6-foot-3, 217-pound Evans was supposed to represent Mitchell's toughest challenge, but the foundation of the victorious, married, father of two was simply too much for his overmatched rival.
BoxingScene.com caught up to Mitchell for this Q&A, where he offered his assessment of the fight as well as its bearing on his future.
BoxingScene.com: What is your overall assessment of your performance against Evan "Sandman" Quinn?
Seth Mitchell: I thought that it was a very solid, solid performance. I thought that I dictated. I thought that I did well. I thought that I dictated the fight with my jab. I attacked the body well. I thought that I varied my jab. I thought I went to the head and that I dipped to the body with the jab.
I thought that I cut the ring off very well. I knew that he was going to come in and try to run. Not run, but to try to box and to try to use his athleticism. But I thought that I was able to turn the ring into a phone booth, and I thought that I finished well when I had him hurt.
There was a point in the fight where I hit him with three, hard, stiff jabs in a row and I thought that with the third jab, I saw I had broken him. His whole facial expression changed and his entire demeanor changed. I knew that it was it was over from that point on.
I believe that that was at about maybe like a minute and a half or like a minute and 40 seconds into the round. But it's just that overall, I felt as if I had done a good job. I did think that when I was on the inside, there were times where I bent over a little too much at the waist.
That's the only negative that I take away from the fight. But with just about everything else, I thought that I did a good job.
BoxingScene.com: Can you talk about the sequence of punches that dropped and finished Evans Quinn?
SM: He was on the ropes, and I threw a jab to the chest area. I don't think that the jab did any real damage, but it set up the next punch, which was that I hit him with a hard, right hand to the body. Then he threw a right hand, and I rode the right hand and I came back with a one-two, a left-right.
That right right there got his attention, and he shook his head and then he shook his hand, but I knew that he felt it. And then he tried to get away, but I cut the ring off and backed him up against the ropes and then I threw another jab to his chest and hit him with another overhand right.
I think that that caught him on the temple, and that got his attention. After that, I believe I threw another jab. Everything came off of the jab. I threw another jab and then another right hand to the body. And then I came back upstairs with a left hook, and all of those punches landed. And then I threw another one-two.
But I believe that the jab might have hit him and the right hand hit him. But he was already woozy, and he tried to grab me. And my trainer, Andre Hunter, we had said that whenever Quinn tries to grab, that he grabs and he reaches.
And when he reaches out, you know, he leaves his body wide open. So as soon as he got into trouble, he tried to grab me, and he left his body wide open. So I could just hear my trainers voice.
So I just went with a left-right, left-right to the body -- four quick punches. Those four body shots really took the air out of him, and then I hit him with some more body shots.
And then I stepped back and threw a little chopping right and I believe that might have grazed him on the back of the head. But he was already done.
BoxingScene.com: Did you feel like you could have continued going and that you were just starting to warm up?
SM: You know, I thought that he made a concious decision not to get back up. I believe that he could have gotten up. I mean, it was a legitimate knockdown, and I believe that he was hurt. I think that there was damage done from the body shots and from the overhand rights, but I guess that he figured that there was no way that he continue and that, 'I can't beat this cat.'
So he made a concious decision to quit, which actually surprised me because of all of the antics and stuff that he put on during the press conference and during the weigh-in. He quit and that actually surprised me.
BoxingScene.com: Okay, since you brought that up, can you go into what was said to you by Evans Quinn as far as pre-fight taunting?
SM: Basically, at the press conference, he got up and he said that he's not good at all of this talking and that he comes to fight. He doesn't talk, but he said that I brought him out of the jungle and that he's going to knock me out.
So he said that everybody can just come and watch the fight and watch him knock me out. And then he said that I should have stuck to football. As far as his antics, you know, we had a press guide, and his name and my name were on it. And he balled it up and said that that was going to be me when he was done with me.
And then, when we went to take the pictures, he kept putting his fist in my face. During the press conference, I just stood there and I just looked through him. I just looked through him while he was acting like a clown, putting his fist in my face and talking all of the trash. So that was him at the press conference.
And then we went back to the weigh-in, I weighed in first, and then, it was his turn to weigh in. And so after we put our shorts back on, he walked over and he jumped at me. You know, I didn't flinch or anything, but he jumped at me. And then we were taking pictures again, and he put his fist in my face again.
But that time, when he put his fist in my face again, you know, I knocked his fist out of my face. And then somebody, I forget who it was, but they had to jump in between us and they got in the way.
BoxingScene.com: Did any of that get to you?
SM: You know, he got under my skin a little bit. So when I went back to the room, I started to pray. Because, I was like, 'This is what this guy is tryhing to do.' I was like, 'He's trying to frustrate me and he's trying to get under my skin because he's probably scared to death ,and he's just trying to make me get out of my element and my mental state.'
He wanted me to come out there and to just try to knock him out and to not be poised and to get off of my game plan. So what I did was I just went back to the room and I just spoke to God.
I asked God to give me the strength to carry me through the game plan and to not worry about him and to just let my fists do the talking and that was what I was able to do when I got into the ring.
BoxingScene.com: Where did your up-jab come from?
SM: He wasn't taller than me. He was listed as 6-foot-3, but I'm 6-2, and I think that he was more like 6-1. He wasn't taller than me. But you could say that we were almost the same height or I was a little taller than him.
But I was just exposing what he gave me, so the up-jab was there, the step jab was there. We've got something, my trainer and I, that we call a flip-jab. All of my jabs were there. Another thing my trainer said was that whenever he threw a jab, if you watched it, the first couple of times he threw a jab, I just threw one jab. That wasn't our game plan.
Our game plan was to double and triple our jab, because whenever you double- and triple-up your jab, you're going to cross him up and he had to re-set. So whenever you stood there and let him get his range, he would throw a jab, throw a jab and then fire a right hand.
Anytime that he threw a jab, after the first 30 seconds, you would see me doubling and tripling my jab. That just messed up his whole game plan and made him re-set. And that was the major part of our game plan.
BoxingScene.com: In the end, was he your best challenge?
SM: On paper, he was supposed to be my toughest challenge. But to tell you the truth, after the first minute and a half, I saw that he couldn't handle my jab, and my jab took his heart away.
You know, he really wasn't much after that and I wasn't really challenge for that fight. My past couple of fights, those cats were supposed to be my stiffest test.
And then Evans Quinn was supposed to be my stiffest test. But I came out with victories and I came out on top. I thought I was going to be challenged more. I had thought that I was going to stop him in like the fifth or sixth round.
BoxingScene.com: Is this victory a function of your improvement and execution of the game plan or that he did not offer the resistance that you were anticipating?
SM: I think that it was my improvement and my dedication to the fight business. I'm trying to be a sponge and I'm getting more comfortable in the ring. I think that this is a testament to my trainer, Andre Hunter, and myself, staying in shape all of the time, studying film, just wanting to become the best fighter that I can be.
So I think that it's an accumilation of all of those things.
BoxingScene.com: When the fight was over, and you had just scored the knock out on your television debut, what did you look into the cameras and say to your wife and two young children?
SM: I told my son, Austin, Ariel, and my wife, Danielle, that 'Daddy's coming home, and I love all of you all.'