By Elliot Foster

Derry Mathews has admitted that he made a mistake in his prediction of one of last weekend’s fights.

The future world title challenger pointed towards Kevin Mitchell to beat Ismael Barroso in their clash last weekend at the O2 Arena in London.

But Barroso, who was made Mathews’ mandatory challenger for the WBA interim crown before the Scouser elected to relinquish, sprung a surprise and is now in pole position to fight for a world title himself.

The Venezuelan hitman (19-0-2, 18 KOs) stopped Dagenham man Mitchell (39-4, 29 KOs) inside five rounds, live and exclusive on Sky Sports Box Office, on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s British heavyweight title victory over amateur rival Dillian Whyte.

And Derry, who is set to face Manchester’s WBO champion Terry Flanagan for the full world title on February 13 at the ECHO Arena, has told Boxing Scene that he’s glad his team made the decision that they did.

“I didn’t expect Barroso to be that good,” said Mathews, “but my manager [Daniel Kinahan] and my trainer [Danny Vaughan] knew how good he was and made a great decision in advising me to give up my interim title.

“I’m a fighting man, I’m a fighter and I’d fight Barroso every day of the week. But I had two options: fight a semi-final against a world-class fighter or a final against a world-class fighter and I’ve gone for the final and it looks to have worked out brilliantly for me.”

Barroso is now the number one contender to the WBA lightweight title, which is held by Mitchell’s promotional stablemate Anthony Crolla, who has fought Mathews twice.

“I picked Mitchell to win in four rounds,” Mathews continued, “which was wrong, but my manager made a big decision a couple of weeks ago that’s worked out fantastic.

“Kevin Mitchell’s a good fighter, but he’s been stopped with a jab and I think he’s got to consider his future in the sport.

“He’s been a great servant to boxing and he can hopefully hang around and could maybe fight Scotty Cardle for the British [title], Tommy Coyle or Luke Campbell, but he’s got to talk to his family and those around him before he makes that decision.

“If he calls it a day, I’m pretty sure Tony Sims will need a number two and that was he can stay in the game.”