By Keith Idec
It’ll be about a year, according to Emanuel Steward, before Seth Mitchell is really ready to fight Wladimir Klitschko for his heavyweight titles.
Mitchell impresses Steward, though, and the Hall-of-Fame trainer considers the undefeated former Michigan State football player one of only two Americans, along with Chris Arreola, that he would want to see the dominant Klitschko (57-3, 50 KOs) box in the foreseeable future.
“It’s unfortunate that we don’t have any heavyweight challengers in America,” Steward said . “It’s not [the Klitschkos’] fault. Wladimir asked me a while back about Seth Mitchell, because I did the [HBO] broadcast [for Mitchell’s last fight].
“He looks good. I like him. He’s a fundamentally good fighter. He does what I like to see heavyweights do. He comes out and he throws punches. He doesn’t wait and he’d be a good challenge. It’s too bad we don’t have a bunch of them.”
Mitchell (24-0-1, 18 KOs), of Brandywine, Md., recorded the most noteworthy win of his four-year pro career Dec. 10 by knocking out Uzbekistan’s Timur Ibragimov (30-4-1, 16 KOs) in the second round in Washington, D.C.
The 29-year-old Mitchell made his HBO debut in that fight. He’ll return to the ring in another HBO co-feature April 28 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Mitchell will face Philadelphia’s Chazz Witherspoon (30-2, 22 KOs) in a 10-rounder that night on the Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson undercard.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com.
