Wednesday 10 February 2016 14:31, UK
As Kevin Mitchell calls time on his boxing career, we look back at five of his best bouts.
The Londoner retires with a record of 39-4-0-KO29 and won British and Commonwealth super-featherweight titles during his career.
Despite falling agonisingly short in his pursuit of a world title, Mitchell provided us with plenty of memorable nights. Here, we recall the standout five.
Carl Johanneson was a tough-as-teak super-featherweight from Leeds who was never afraid to stand toe-to-toe with his opponents and trade. A year prior to facing Mitchell under the bright lights of the O2 Arena, Johanneson had handed future world champion Ricky Burns the second defeat of his career with a unanimous decision that proved his boxing credentials. The British and Commonwealth super-featherweight titles were on the line.
This was a young Mitchell full of promise, a head full of hair but empty of the troubles that would later derail his rise. He slipped away from Johanneson's dangerous left hook time and time again with clever footwork, and fired back with meaningful shots of his own. At the age of 30, Johanneson's hands were still heavy and Mitchell had to demonstrate a decent chin under a barrage of shots in the sixth. Mitchell seemed unfazed by the exchanges and began upping his own volume of punches thrown over the next two rounds.
In the ninth, the 24-year-old began to impose himself decisively and tripled up the jabs as he danced around his opponent, suddenly stepping in with a vicious, short left hook that sent Johanneson to the canvas. Mitchell didn't hurry the finish but twice landed flush to prompt Ian John-Lewis's intervention.
Yes, the very same Breidis Prescott who shattered Amir Khan's unbeaten record and stunned the boxing world in September 2009. Prescott had lost only once when he travelled to Newcastle to take on Mitchell on December 5, 2009. He had decimated the hype surrounding Khan and only lost to Miguel Velazquez via a split decision having had the Mexican down in the first round.
What most of Mitchell's fans were concerned by was the Colombian's punching power. The first-round knockout of Khan was one of the most emphatic displays of power and timing seen for a long time. He also had a far superior reach. Could Mitchell cope? It was arguably Mitchell's finest hour in a boxing ring. The skills he demonstrated in preventing Prescott get set to unleash his trademark big hooks was pure pugilism.
He had shown in his victory of Johanneson that he wasn't scared of mixing it with punchers, but the size and extra power of Prescott presented too great a threat to his unbeaten record and he clinically shelved his fighting instincts to box clever. By the time a weary Prescott heard the final bell, punched out and feeling like he had been fighting a ghost, the judges had the scores 119-110, 117-111 and 118-111 - all in favour of Mitchell, who preserved his unbeaten record in style.
In the summer of 2010, Mitchell suffered a devastating third-round knockout at the hands of Michael Katsidis in his first world title fight and, with personal problems rearing their head, many wondered whether Mitchell would go off the rails entirely. It was 14 months before he returned to action and it was no easy task - going into a domestic clash with then-unbeaten Mancunian John Murray at the Echo Arena, Liverpool.
Murray, like so many of Joe Gallagher's fighters, was in supreme condition and arrived in the ring a European champion and a clear favourite to drive another nail into Mitchell's coffin. What followed was another classic Mitchell performance. Murray, as predicted, surged forward demanding exchanges. Mitchell picked his moments, fought when he had to, and used his natural footwork to avoid unnecessary skirmishes - pacing himself.
As the fight wore on, an attritional contest began to swing Mitchell's way as he continued to be more accurate and economical with his shots. In the eighth, a tiring Murray walked on to a beautifully-timed left hook and sank to his knees. The finish was clinical - three vicious shots with the left forcing Richie Davies to stop the fight. The punishment dished out by both men had been severe. Murray's face was a mess. Mitchell's left ear was a mess. A WBO inter-continental lightweight title was his, though.
Mitchell's next assignment was facing Daniel Estrada - a dangerous, long-limbed Mexican who had just taken Omar Figuero nine rounds for the WBC world lightweight title. The carrot was dangling in front of Mitchell. Beat Estrada and he was likely to secure his shot at Jorge Linares. Lose and he was probably facing a lengthy climb back to the summit during which his body may have started to complain or his mind started to wander.
Again, the tactics were spot on. Mitchell negated Estrada's superior reach by drawing the lead, evading the lead and then swaying into position to fire a counter-attack - all in one movement. After a textbook uppercut landed flush in the first, Mitchell had his man down in the third when both connected with right hooks at the same time. Mitchell's was the more accurate and the more venomous and Estrada found himself sat on the canvas, albeit very briefly.
Mitchell continued to shine, though, and was making it look easy. He bloodied the visitor's nose with a whipping uppercut in the fifth and Estrada was cutting a despondent character between rounds, seemingly resigned to defeat. It came midway through the eighth when Mitchell casually landed an uppercut.
Afterwards, the victor would call the fight the greatest performance of his career.
A defeat, but pretty much as glorious as a defeat can be. It was to be his final tilt at a world title. In rangy Venezuelan Linares, Mitchell was in at the deep end against a man who had already secured world champion status in three different divisions. The betting was tight, but his performance against Estrada gave his supporters renewed hope he could finally achieve his dream.
Mitchell more than played his part in what many consider to be the 2015 fight of the year. Linares looked constantly dangerous but the home fighter's skills gave him an early edge. In round five, Mitchell recorded a knockdown that sent the arena into rapture. Finally, they thought, Mitchell's moment in the sun had come.
It was not to be, however. In fairness, Linares produced as spirited a comeback as you could expect from a champion. His raking punches found the mark with increasing regularity and whether inflicted by hand or head, a gaping wound opened up above Mitchell's left eye. Before going down in the 10th and being stopped, Mitchell had produced one brave counter-assault that had inspired The O2 into a colossal roar.
Although he'd come up agonisingly short, Dagenham's finest had given his all and was warmly saluted with a rendition of 'Forever Blowing Bubbles'.
