Just watched the Seth Mitchell TKO 2 Timur Ibragimov fight on youtube right now.
Couple of comments.
- Round 1 was very close, in my opinion Ibragimov actually landed the better punches. Mitchell started the round well and aggressively, but Ibragimov began landing 3 or 4 precise right hands and some nice jabs. Ibragimov was using precise punching effectively in round 1 and was largely able to land cleaner shots and outbox Mitchell. Mitchell was simply overwhelming Ibragimov with wild, mauling type punches. All in all it was an even round, coulda went either way.
- Round 2 saw Mitchell's power and aggressiveness get to Ibragimov. Credit where its due, Mitchell won the fight and showed good power and attack. But I was disappointed with Ibragimov. I feel Timur could have given a better account of himself. That being said, Timur is a non-puncher and that contributed to why he was unable to keep Mitchell off him.
- CONCLUSION. Mitchell is a mauling, brawling type fighter with pretty good aggressiveness and power. But he is WIDE OPEN to being hit by punches and outboxed. Seth Mitchell is a brawler with NO DEFENSE and NO MOVEMENT. That will not, I guarantee you, carry him far with championship level fighters. Keep in mind that Ibragimov is a non-puncher, so those right hands landed in round 1 and 2, from a different boxer WOULD HAVE HURT MITCHELL.
Seth Mitchell is a perfect candidate to get knocked out by a boxer-puncher, due to his absence of a defense. Mitchell might be a tough guy, and he may even take a good punch. But NOBODY becomes a champion without defense.
You just CANNOT leave yourself open to punches like that. Against Timur Ibragimov its OK, and Mitchell won the fight. But it would NOT work against guys like Klitschko's, Haye, even someone like Cris Arreola.
In my opinion,
Wlad Klitschko
Vitali Klitschko
David Haye
Robert Helenius
Alex Povetkin
would all certainly beat Seth Mitchell by KO.
As a final point, its no surprise HBO is riding Seth Mitchell so hard. HBO gives every possible advantage and easy fights to Black American stars, even when these fighters are crap (ie Mitchell, Danny Jacobs, Andre Berto, Gary Russell Jr, Adrien Broner). Yet HBO doesnt give European fighters the time of day, or even white American fighters have to take the hard road to big fights (ie Pavlik's HBO debut in 50/50 fight with Miranda, HBO using Litzau as an "opponent" to Caballero, Guerrero)