By Terence Dooley
Kevin Mitchell breezed to the biggest win of his career by defeating Columbia’s Breidis Prescott on points at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle last night. There had been pre-fights fears that the twenty-five-year-old Dagenham fighter, who loves a tear-up, would be too open for Prescott, who took Amir Khan apart in 54 seconds last September.
This writer, however, had seen Prescott labour to a DQ win over Humberto Toledo in February and then sleepwalk his way to a split-decision loss to Miguel Vazquez in July, the 26-year-old is very much an early-doors puncher, and this was proven to be the case in the showdown with Mitchell.
Prescott’s (135lb) initial right hand swings were greeted with gasps from the Newcastle crowd, the majority of whom had last, briefly, seen him in action during the Khan fight. However, Mitchell (134lb) played it safe in the first three rounds, giving a few of them away as he sought to take the steam from Prescott’s shots.
In truth, Breidis undid a lot of his own work, telegraphing the right hand throughout the early going. Mitchell was far subtler in his approach, landing sneaky counter left hooks when Prescott missed.
It was a question of whether Kevin, who had delighted fans back in 2008 when warring with Carl Johanneson for the British super-featherweight crown, could maintain his discipline throughout the fight; he proved this to be the case in the third, both men landed with solid rights only for Mitchell to disengage and revert back to his boxing. His chin, and discipline, had passed the acid test.
Prescott complained about the use of the head in the sixth, he had suffered a bad cut over the left eye in the fifth, after Mitchell had landed with a right hand, and it looked a fight-ending injury. However, Breidis’ corner did a great job with the wound; by the eighth stanza it was practically sealed, as was the verdict, for Kevin was running away with the fight by this point, his bombing raids were frustrating Breidis, who could not set up his own shots.
Kevin engaged in a bit of the old Walcott shuffle in the tenth; Prescott raised his arms at the end of the stanza, perhaps in celebration of the fact that he had, arguably, nicked the round, landing a solid left hook on Mitchell late in the session; however, Breidis’ right cheek was swollen and he looked a beaten man.
Prescott’s corner were warned for putting excess ice in his shorts in the eleventh; Breidis, who had seemed an ice-cold assassin in the Khan fight, was looking faintly ridiculous by this point, his swings bringing ironic cheers from the Geordie fans, who enjoyed Mitchell’s boxing display.
A potential massacre had turned into a whitewash; Mitchell landed a left and right hand in the final session, avoided the follow up from Prescott, and then dangled his chin out, a sign of his confidence.
Scores of 118-111, 117-111 and 119-110, from Howard Foster, Victor Loughlin and Terry O’Connor respectively, handed Mitchell the fight, the vacant WBO Intercontinental title and Prescott’s scalp. Promoter Frank Warren lavished his man with praise at the post-fight presser.
“What a performance from this fella”, said Warren when introducing Kevin, “he went out and boxed to plan. Jimmy and Mark Tibbs did some great preparation and corner work with Kevin but he has to get in the ring and do it, and he did it in great style.
“David Haye won a title in that style against Valuev, who I don’t think has the class and the skill of Prescott, or the danger, so this performance must be ten times better. He went in there and broke the heart of a big, and known, puncher. He used his brain and showed he has another dimension, when he doesn’t let his heart rule his head he can go out there and box better than anybody, this fight showed that and will stand him in great stead. We can hopefully get him a world title next year and gain another world champion.”
Kevin had boxed a tight, discipline fight, few people could have expected him to remain so calm and calculated in the face of Prescott, especially given Mitchell’s tendency to get into wars.
“That is what Kevin had to do”, said Warren when discussing the nature of the contest, “you look at guys, study them and if you’ve got faith in your guys you put them in with them, and that is what we did. I always worry about Kevin, and I don’t mean this in the wrong way, as he sometimes stands and fights and wants to have a trade, he is an East End kid and it shows, there were times when he stood there and traded to show he can take the power but I preferred him to win the fight the way he did.
“We’ll see what happens now, we’ve got a lot to talk about. He’s in the number one slot and has lots of options. These are exciting times for British boxing, we have Amir, Kevin and that can become a fight that takes us back to the old Benn and Eubank days, it is all happening.
“Six months ago people were writing boxing off, saying the U F C was going to bury it and it wasn’t doing great numbers in the States but everywhere we go we are selling out, where is the faith in it [boxing]? You’ve only got to look at these youngsters. It was quite a while since I was this excited. Look at how many people came out tonight. We had the likes of Tony Bellew on the card – we also have exciting youngsters who didn’t fight tonight. David Haye is out there, Froch is out there, there are a few other fellas floating around out there. It is the best it’s ever been.”
Mitchell then dropped John Murray’s name into the mix; Warren praised Murray before stating that John needs to add someone like Prescott to his W column. “You’ve got to go out and do these things,” declared Warren when talking about the decision to make this contest.
“John Murray is a good fighter but they could have gone and made the Prescott fight and they didn’t. You have to go and do these things, have faith, put the money up and get behind your fighters, and that is what we do, we deliver. That is what its all about.”
Amir Khan had inspired Kevin with a pre-fight phone call. Bolton’s WBA light-welterweight champion had never doubted the outcome, and had given his promotional teammate the inside track on Prescott.
“Kevin boxed superb,” declared Khan. “I told him that you have to bob-and-weave with this guy. I tried slipping the shots and when a guy throws big, looping shots you can slip into them by doing that. It was the mistake I made. Kevin did what he had to do and it was a great performance. There are bigger things to come for him. You could see that Prescott took a battering by looking at his face, so Kevin got him back for me! There are bigger things to come - from both of us.”
The last word must go to Kevin and his team. Jimmy Tibbs trains Kevin, assisted by his son, Mark, and the veteran coach devised the perfect strategy for this one. “The gameplan was to box for the first half dozen rounds and then try and catch with him big shots, jumping in and out, as he is always dangerous, and it all went to plan,” revealed Tibbs.
Still, Mitchell had the plan, the skills, and the will to win, but he had confounded expectations by out-boxing Prescott, rather than out-gunning the Columbian, who falls to 21-2 (18 early).
“I knew he was big and strong from what he’d done to Khan, who he demolished in one round,” revealed Mitchell, now 30-0 (22 early). “Jimmy and Kev’ told me what to do and as soon as Frank offered me the fight I said, ‘Yeah, I want the fight’, and listened to the gameplan for twelve rounds.
“If I was a twenty-year-old boy that would have been harder, but I’m a twenty-five-year-old man now so it wasn’t as hard. I think that was the best I’ve boxed. I’m moving more now, fast feet and fast head movement, and listening to the gameplan.”
Indeed, Kevin revealed that Johanneson, who he stopped in the ninth round of a thriller, hits with more velocity than Prescott. “Carl Johanneson hit harder”, revealed Mitchell, “Prescott has a big punch but we knew what he was capable off, I was definitely in more trouble in the Johanneson fight but I was better prepared for this one.
“Thanks have to go to Jimmy and Mark. I’m a different fighter now. I made it look simple and I hurt him more than he hurt me. I could have put it on him, gone to war and tried to take him out but I’d have been more worried about coming to the corner and getting a slap off Mark and Jimmy!”
Kevin had negated the right hand of Prescott with the simplest of moves. When Prescott set himself to shoot the shot, Mitchell would duck down to his own right and the punch sailed over his head, or hit him in the back, which brought a warning for Prescott from referee Dave Parris, who grumpily admonished Breidis and his team during the course of the contest.
“People always throw the right at me in my career as they think they can hit me with the right hand but tonight I showed that you can’t hit me with any shot,” said Mitchell when discussing Prescott’s honey punch.
To the winner go the spoils. Kevin is now in line for a WBO shot; Juan Manuel Marquez is the organisations ‘super’ champion, meaning that Kevin can fight for their regular belt. Mitchell believes that a world title win would set him up for a fight with Khan, there is also the small matter of that domestic epic, and it would be, with John Murray, who has dominated the UK scene during 2009 and would be a far stiffer test than Prescott.
“I think the [Khan] fight is better with me winning a world title,” stated Mitchell. “John Murray is there as well. It is an exciting division at the British level.”
Finally, Mitchell thanked Khan for his pre-fight pep talk. “Amir rang me yesterday”, confirmed Mitchell, “it was a very welcome phone call, and he told me what I needed to do with him [Breidis]. Amir told me to move from side-to-side and make him miss with the shots and not get involved.”
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