With the undercard from Liverpool on Saturday night having proved disappointing, the pressure was on Kevin Mitchell & John Murray to salvage the evening. Fortunately the pair were up to the challenge, surpassing already high expectations to produce a mini classic over 8 brutal rounds, with Mitchell claiming a stunning victory to revive his career.
The Londoner started brightly, his movement keeping Murray at distance as he picked him off, with the uppercut particularly potent as it frequently pierced his opponents leaky guard. As usual Murray's head movement was non existent as he stalked his prey which was to be crucial later on, but at this stage nothing that landed seemed to trouble the Mancunian.
By the third round Murray had closed the distance & dragged Mitchell into his kind of fight as he pressurised him against the ropes, using his physical strength as they wrestled on the inside. Although Mitchell still landed blows, they appeared to have no impact as Murray steadily walked through them to answer with his own shots. As the fight entered the sixth round it appeared to be a typical Murray fight; struggling to catch a slicker opponent early on but gradually grinding him down to dominate the fight, with the only danger being the increasing swelling around his eyes. However Mitchell was to prove a cut above the previous opposition & in the following round seemed to find another gear; he was able to create space for his punches & for the first time they were having an obvious effect as Murray slowed & became laboured in his work, unable to smother the other mans work. On the bell a left uppercut & left hook combination rocked the unbeaten fighter and for the first time in his pro career he looked in trouble
Murray bravely came out for the 8th round, with his right eye almost closed completely but clearly hadn't recovered & Mitchell, a strong finisher, went for the finish with a vicious left hook sending Murray down to the canvas for the first time. There was probably a case for the fight being stopped then but referee Richie Davies gave Murray one last chance; when he was unable to answer the following onslaught he quickly stepped in to end the battle.
With such a stunning victory Mitchell has revitalised a career that appeared in danger of fizzling out & he proved a lot of people wrong (myself included...) and now looks back on track for a world title shot. I was amazed that he appeared so sharp after 14 months out & that there were no signs his confidence had been damaged by the ill fated Katsidis beating. While both fighters are promoted by Frank Warren, I'd got the impression that Mitchell was deemed to have blown his chances of the big time & was instead being served up as a victim to Murray, the new signing & potential superstar; defeat here would have relegated Mitchell from main event status, everything was resting on this fight, so to have come through as he has with a sensational performance is a credit to the fighter.
Whether Mitchell is able to capatilise on this win is another matter; he was hurt several times during the early rounds & Murray is not a puncher which suggests his punch resistance is waning; a dangerous situation were he to face hard hitting WBA champion Brandon Rios, who the Mitchell camp called out after the fight. It's an unfortunate combination of loving to get involved in a tear up whilst carrying a weak chin, Mitchell needs to work on not getting drawn into wars & instead concentrate on using his superior boxing ability to stay out of trouble. Still, that's all in the future, a future few expected him to have before the fight & he deserves all the plaudits that are coming his way
As for Murray, he's young enough to come again, but unless there are major changes in his technique (moving his head would be a good start!) he is never going to move beyond decent domestic level; his flaws were always going to be exposed at some point by higher quality fighters. It'll be interesting to see how he responds to his first defeat as it will end his belief that he can just walk through anything an opponent throws at him. Hopefully he can deal with it positively, learn from his mistakes & look to adapt his style. If he needs an example of how to pull yourself back from the brink & silence critics, he could do worse than look to his conqueror
It was refreshing to a fight conducted without the usual trash talking or needle; both were intense in the build up but refused to say anything negative about the other & this mutual respect continued after the fight. In the ring nothing was held back though & they deserve a huge amount of credit for the fight of the year candidate they produced
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