Mitchell Defeats N'Dou, Unimpressively

POSTED: 02/12/2004 - 08:48 AM

By Josh Lashley

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ

February 7th

Give top rated junior welterweight contender Sharmba Mitchell some credit. After his title rematch against Kostya Tszyu was postponed due to an injury suffered by the champion, he didn’t simply sit around and wait for the 140-pound champion to heal. Instead, he kept the original date of his proposed bout against Tszyu and faced little known Australian Lovemore Ndou. Sure, Ndou won his last four fights, but they all came against nondescript opponents.

Surely, the rewards, a main event televised on Showtime to display his dazzling speed and skills against a ordinary foe, would outweigh the risks for Mitchell, right?

Well, not really, no.

Mitchell did win the fight, at least in the minds of the judges, but in all honesty, he absorbed a solid beating in more than a few rounds. Mitchell is as tough as nails and he showed a good beard, but after the fight his face told the story of a fighter who sustained a lot of punishment. The scores were 115-113, 117-112 and 118-110 all in favor of Mitchell. A two-point nod for Mitchell is understandable, but the eight-point margin was laughable.

Mitchell (33 years old, Takoma Park, Maryland) needed no feeling out process as he jumped on Ndou (32, Sydney, Australia) right after the bell to signal round one. Mitchell had Ndou pinned on the ropes in brief instances and was generally the busier fighter as he took the opening stanza. Mitchell, a southpaw, flashed his quick hands against Ndou’s noggin in the second. N’dou appeared to have trouble picking up the speed of Mitchell’s punches as he stood still and took some punishment.

Ndou, who switches his lead hand from right to left at various times throughout a fight, got going in the third when he landed some clean shots to the head and then dug into the body. Mitchell looked to guide the momentum back into his favor early in the fourth as he used a lot of upper-body movement and poked jabs at his foe. N’dou stood his ground, however, and began out landing Mitchell. During one exchange in the fourth, Mitchell got a cut high one his forehead (a result of a clash of heads), above right eye. The two engaged in a furious toe-to-toe meeting down the stretch in the fourth and Ndou got the better of the action.

Mitchell came out in the fifth and flicked many jabs to Ndou’s face. The latter seemed unfazed, however, as he forced Mitchell to eat some hard jabs himself. N’dou landed the best punch of the round, a thudding right that momentarily froze Mitchell in his tracks. Ndou showed a tight defense in the sixth, but Mitchell gave him angles and landed well to carry to round.

In the seventh, Mitchell opened with lateral movement and eventually worked Ndou into the ropes where he had some good moments. The two took part in another great exchange late in the round, with Mitchell getting the better of it this time. Mitchell boxed Ndou in a circle in the eighth and won the round. Mitchell was getting through Ndou tight guard in the ninth by mixing up his punches well to both the body and head. Ndou wasn’t done, though. He had a strong 10th round, by following Mitchell around the ring and landing some considerable shots along the way.

Mitchell may have tried to smile his way through it, but he took a beating in the 11th. To his credit, he didn’t go down and dished out some leather of his own. Mitchell had the look of a hurt fighter in the 12th and was wilting physically as the seconds ticked away. Ndou doesn’t have a great punch and it showed as Mitchell took many clean shots and completely wavered.

With the win, Mitchell improves to 53-3 (30 knockouts) and N’dou drops to 36-6-1 (20) in defeat. As was stated earlier, the two-point nod for Mitchell was understandable, but a draw would have been even better. Bally’s Park Place played host to the fight.

Quick prediction: Tsyzu TKO 10 Mitchell in the rematch.