THINKING ABOUT BRIAN MITCHELL

Longtime lineal 130 champion Brian Mitchell was elected to the IBHOF two years ago in a decision I ridiculed at the time. Why? A very simple reason. He won the crown from one of the biggest fluke lineal champions in the history of the sport in the 14-5 Alfredo Layne (who would finish 15-12), never faced off with the very best possible challengers and so his 45-1 career record and his 13 defenses were more a function of the strap situation than anything else. I mean a guy who's biggest name win was Tony Lopez? Really? Tony Lopez?

But I wonder now if I am being fair. Let's do the work.

Mitchell wasn't big, he wasn't particularly fast, he didn't have a big punch and he cut early and often. Instead he did three things very well. His craft was just excellent, he did all the important thinks the right way. He was a fine in-ring thinker. He knew how to apply his craft for best usage. He ALWAYS came into the ring ready to go. He was ALWAYS in tip=top shape physically and never (that I can recall anyway) had any pre-fight distractions or problems. He was mentally geared to go. Perhaps the most important thing to understand about Mitchell was the world in which he fought. His native South Africa remained a world-wide pariah in the 1980's. Apartheid was viewed as a scourge and so all things South Africa, sports included, were punished. Many organizations and fighters simply would not travel to, or compete with the citizens of, South Africa. So in 12 of Mitchell's 14 title fights he was the visiting fighter. He was a road warrior.

Mitchell fought the usual array of nobodies in South Africa and then stepped up in his seventh fight.

Jacob Morake-Dancing Shoes is the defending South African 130 champion and is best understood as a solid local pro. Morake had been horribly burned as a child and carried the scars on much of his skinny body. He hands Mitchell his only loss. UD12. Mitchell then has six fights over the next year and gradually gets put in with more experienced men including at least one who has challenged for a world championship. Mitchell beats them all. In a rematch with Morake, Dancing Shoes and Mitchell put on a great show and Mitchell comes away with a disputed split decision win. SD12. By the time they met for a third time Mitchell now had 25 fights under his belt and had made great strides. Morake on the other hand had bee inactive for fifteen months and struggled to make weight. Dancing Shoes fought gallantly but he was no longer in Mitchell's class. Mitchell dropped him on his face and almost stopped Morake in the third. By the tenth he was tiring and vulnerable and in the eleventh he took a knee at one point. In the final round Mitchell battered him and Morake hung in there until an overhand right floored Dancing Shoes and his neck cracked over the bottom rope. Jacob Morake died of his injuries at 30. KO12.

Mitchell by now is on the fringes of the top ten and yet somehow, having never fought a ranked guy, he gets a title shot. Why?

Alfredo Layne-He is the lineal 130 champion having stunned the boxing world by stopping the legendary Wilfredo Gomez. At the time of the fight L:ayne was 14-5 and in his last five fights had beaten guys with records of 12-13, 3-6, 3-4-1 and 11-2-1. Oh yeah he' also been KO'd by #10 ranked Kamel Bou-Ali (who?). Layne is one of the freak champions boxing has ever produced. A fight with Mitchell in South Africa offers him a gigantic payday and as nonthreatening a fight as he can find. It is all Brian Mitchell. He stops Layne in ten to become champion at 26. TKO10.

Joe Rivera-The Puerto Rican challenger is unranked and will never beat anyone of note. On his home turf he gets a draw with Mitchell. D15. In a rematch in Spain a year later Mitchell gives Rivera a boxing lesson. UID12.

Fransisco Fernandez-The Panamanian is unranked 24-10 and will never beat anyone of note and will wind up 27-16. TKO14.

Daniel Londas-The Frenchman will win a strap (Over Kamel Bou-Ali fo all people) and will lose to Jimmy Bredhal, Genaro Hernandez and Dingaan Thobela. Five months before their fight Londas had been KO's in one round by Salvatore Curcetti. Mitchell wins a routine decision. UD15.

Salvatore Curcetti-Is unbeaten in 15 fights. He will end up 19-7. Mitchell ruins him. TKO9.

Danilo Cabrera-This guy was a fine, fine fighter. He had been KO'd in long fights with HOFers Azumah Nelson and Barry McGuigan a couple of years before. He had gone the distance ten months before with Julio Cesar Chavez. Mitchell beats him in an over the weight fight. UD10.

Jim McDonnell-The Brit is 25-0 and will end up 26-4. Azumah Nelson will knock him out a year later. Mitchell hands him his first defeat. UD12.

Jackie Beard-Another pretty good fighter out of Detroit. This is a very close fight and Mitchell is bleeding all over the place when the fight is stopped and Mitchell wins on a technical decision (AAAAAAAAARGH). TD9. Six months later Mitchell wins a routine decision. Beard will not win another fight. UD12.

Frankie Mitchell-Ranked #10 and unbeaten. He will never beat anyone of note and will get destroyed by Julio Cesar Chavez in four two years later. This is a highly competitive affair. UD12.

To this point those are Brian Mitchell's very best wins. Let me give you just some of the names of guys wh were ranked at 130 in those years. Azumah Nelson, Jeff Fenech, Julio Cesar Chavez, Juan Laporte, Rocky Lockridge, John John Molina, Genaro Hernandez and Mario Martinez. Now to be fair, IIRC, Azumah Nelson simply was unwilling to do anything that might remotely give succor to the South African regime. Hard to blame that on Mitchell.

Now come Mitchell's glory fights.

Tony Lopez-The Tiger is ranked #5, has split fights with John-John Molina and has a win over Jorge Paez and is a strapholder. He is a fine fighter. Mitchell travels to Lopez's Sacramento home and they fight two fights in absolutely insane atmospheres. Insane. The first fight is razor, razor close and exceptionality exciting and the judges split their view. D12. I should note that Mitchell's camp believed that decision was home-cooking. To Mitchell's eternal credit he gave up his WBA strap to take the Lopez fight and then he went back to Sacramento six months later to do it again. This time Mitchell left no doubt. He beat the hell out of LopezUD12.

That's it for Brian Mitchell. He was a lineal champion, an outspoken critic of an abhorrent government policy that limited him and he always was prepared. He defeated every man he ever fought and he conducted himself in an admirable manner. But does that look like a HOF resume?


Here are the championship rounds of Mitchell's finest win for those who have never seen him.