By Ryan Maquiñana
One month ago, Seth Mitchell was westward bound for his HBO debut in San Jose.
Unfortunately for him, Boxing After Dark headliner Robert Guerrero injured his shoulder in training, causing the cancellation of a card that included the unbeaten heavyweight’s co-featured bout against Mike Mollo.
“It was a little disappointing, but I had faith in my team that I’d get back in the ring soon,” Mitchell said.
A stone’s throw away from his home in Brandywine, Maryland, Mitchell’s tireless toil in nearby Clinton at the Dream Team Gym would not go unrewarded.
His promoter, Golden Boy, eventually landed him a shot on a televised main event in Las Vegas this Friday—albeit on a lower-profile TeleFutura Solo Boxeo card in the Texas Station Casino that Fox Sports is in the midst of picking up as well.
Still, don’t expect the powerful Mitchell (22-0-1, 16 KOs), who now faces Hector Ferreyro (21-10-2, 12 KOs), to complain to the ends of the earth about his lost opportunity on HBO.
“This is actually the first time it’s happened to me that an opponent canceled, but I don’t want to cry over spilled milk,” Mitchell told BoxingScene. “I’m just glad I’m going to get to fight, especially because I kept myself in fighting shape.”
Fitness is not a problem given his previous athletic history.
A former Michigan State middle linebacker from 2002-2005, he graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice and Security Administration. The proud alum frequently speaks to current head coach Mark Dantonio and never misses a chance to watch his beloved Spartans, currently 2-0 for the season.
“I’ll be there for the Michigan game on October 15,” he shared before giving an old chant the college try. “Go Green! Go White! I got on all green as we speak. But right now, the focus is all about moving forward in my boxing career.”
A GAME OF RISK
One fateful night in June 2006, Mitchell watched current Baltimore Raven safety Tom Zbikowski shine in his professional boxing debut, and it inspired him to give boxing a try.
“I thought he could do it, so why not me?” Mitchell asked himself. “I called my mentor Maurice Banks back home in Brandywine, and he introduced me to my now manager Sharif Salim. From there, I met my trainer, Andre Hunter.”
This would be no hobby, however. With a baby on the way, Mitchell would be making a life decision seemingly based on self-belief alone.
“When I originally came from Michigan to Maryland to start boxing, my now wife Danielle was eight months pregnant with our daughter Aurielle,” Mitchell recalled. “Not only that, she working full-time at Michigan State and studying part-time at the law school at Michigan State.
“Boxing was serious to me because I was set on building a foundation to provide for my family. Danielle’s my backbone. She supported me 100 percent without any grief, and it made it easier to come down and focus on my training.”
Long-distance relationships are never easy, especially for a young family, and Mitchell described the lengths he went to in order to make sure he took care of his responsibilities as a father.
“My routine was I would go back up to Michigan for a week or two, then go back to Maryland for five weeks to train,” he remembered. “I picked up a construction job. Every week, I’d send 200-300 dollars back up there. I took my job serious, and luckily, it all worked out.”
Following a brief amateur stint where he went 9-1, he turned pro.
“I got involved in this boxing business to be financially secure and to be the heavyweight champion of the world,” Mitchell said. “Since I wasn’t going to make the Olympics, I’m not in the business to get hit upside myself for free. I’m blessed. I still can’t believe I was signed this quickly.”
Hard hats and jackhammers a thing of the past now that Mitchell’s gamble to go pro resulted in a promotional contract from Golden Boy, Danielle finally made it to Brandywine last summer; the family welcomed a new addition with the birth of their son Austin, now approaching nine months.
CRASH COURSE
That said, he understood that the transition from the gridiron to the squared circle is not the easiest to make; no such luxury exists in having a teammate quietly erase one’s mistakes in zone coverage.
“As far as football, there’s really no comparison,” Mitchell said. “That’s a team sport where my teammate can cover for me. There are things I took from football like cutting off the ring, which played on my instincts as a middle linebacker.
“But in boxing, some things are different, too, like being relaxed when you roll punches or engage, because as a linebacker, you’re far from relaxed when you’re trying to take out the fullback.”
Not only is this sport solely man-to-man, the embarrassment of conceding a touchdown pales in comparison to lying comatose on the canvas via savage knockout.
“Boxing’s unforgiving,” Mitchell opined, “and if you make a mistake, your opponent can end it in a second.”
So far, this Beltway Bomber has issued the beatings instead, with his last seven bouts going no farther than the fifth frame.
“How I am as a boxer is like how it was when I played football in that I’m a totally different person when I fight. Right now, I’m personable. I’m friendly. But in the ring, it’s about ‘Mayhem,’ ” Mitchell said, referring to his nickname.
In a wafer-thin heavyweight division desperate for any American to assert himself, Mitchell’s development has been encouraging in his three years as a pro.
“I just turned 29, and I’m becoming more seasoned,” he said. “For one, I can hit you now, and I’ll see it even if you don’t show it. Depending on where I hit you and how I hit you, I’m getting better on how to exploit that.
“With that said, there are people I didn’t stop then that I know I could stop now. I’m just thankful for my team for helping me improve in all aspects.”
It was Hunter who took Mitchell in and built his repertoire from the root to the fruit, and Salim who has handled his matters outside the ring before Golden Boy came calling. As a result, Mitchell has been unabashedly grateful and staunchly loyal to the pair.
“Boxing’s a lonely sport,” he observed. “I’ve always surrounded myself with good people I can trust, like Maurice Banks, Andre Hunter, and Sharif Salim. They’re not only my trainer, my manager, my advisor, they’re my friends. Sometimes you can get involved with people who don’t have your best interests at heart, but that’s not the case here.”
THE LEARNING CURVE
Not every endeavor has yielded exemplary results. In his third fight, Mitchell drew with Alvaro Morales and was taken the distance by a scrappy Zack Page 13 bouts later in 2009.
“I was truly a baby at the time when I fought Morales the first time,” Mitchell said. “My trainer was telling me to do one thing, but I couldn’t pull the trigger like a deer in the headlights. I learned you can’t be a Superman in sparring, but when the lights are on, to not have that carry that over into the ring.
“With Page, he moved around a lot. He pot-shotted and used his legs. That was the toughest fight of my career. The thing is, you have to perform, and I still pulled out the decision.”
Since avenging the only blemish on his record with a unanimous decision against Morales, Mitchell has since reeled off stoppages in nine out of his last 10, including systematic bombardments of Taurus Sykes (KO5) and most recently, Evans Quinn (KO1) in his Showtime debut in May.
“I just have to keep knockin’ ‘em down when they put ‘em in front of me,” he told Alec Kohut of MaxBoxing last year.
Worthy of note is that his last victory came with the arrival of a new team member—advisor Al Haymon.
“It just happened,” Mitchell said. “They said they liked what they saw, and Al’s track record speaks for itself. I’m more than happy with what we’ve been able to accomplish in our short relationship.”
Like him or hate him, the ever-incognito power broker has wielded his considerable pull at HBO over the years. Haymon’s influence was all over the network two weeks ago when fellow Beltway prospect Gary Russell Jr. landed an eight-rounder on a World Championship Boxing card—something usually unheard of for “The Heart and Soul of Boxing.”
“I think my camp and promotional company is doing a great job putting me in the right situations,” Mitchell said. “The first time I fought in Vegas I fought on the first fight of [Juan Manuel] Marquez vs. [Juan] Diaz, and it was so quiet I could feel a pin drop, but there wasn’t too much pressure.
“Then the next time I fought in Vegas, it was on the fourth fight of the card with more people. Now I’m fighting on a main event in Vegas, and I feel ready. They’ve been grooming me. I just have to keep continuing to progress.”
THE TASK AT HAND
As a late replacement, Ferreyro is neither expected to add too much to Mitchell’s pugilistic education nor put up much of a challenge. Consecutive losses to Homero Fonseca and Amir Mansour will make the viewer think that poor Hector is stepping into the ring with a plastic sword and a paper plate for a shield.
“I don’t know too much about him except he’s got two hands just like me,” Mitchell admitted after a camp that included sparring with Tony Thompson and Dwayne McRae as well as amateur Danny Kelly. “But no matter who it is, I’m just here to work. I do my talking in the ring. I feel like I make it easier for my trainers and managers that way.”
After finishing camp at Barry’s Boxing Center in Las Vegas, it’s evident that Mitchell refuses to dishonor his work ethic by giving less than his best for Friday. He realizes that he can’t give the public a reason to doubt his viability as a fixture on premium cable with a less-than-stellar outing.
“I’m starting to be on a lot of people’s minds, and a lot of people are talking, good and bad,” Mitchell said. “It’s part of the territory. I want to be in a place where stakes are high where you have a lot to lose and a lot to gain.
“I love the attention, but I don’t let it go to my head. I’m not invincible by any means. I’m not going to beat myself or underestimate anyone. I’m going to perform.”
Ryan Maquiñana is the boxing correspondent at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. He’s a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and The Ring’s Ratings Advisory Panel. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com, check out his blog at www.maqdown.com or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.