Kevin Mitchell produced the performance of his career to outfox Breidis Prescott on his way to a landslide points win.
Mighty fine show puts Khan conqueror in the shade
Kevin Mitchell produced the performance of his career to outclass Amir Khan's conqueror Breidis Prescott.
The Dagenham man mastered the knockout specialist with a diligent and disciplined display, slowly taking the fight away from one of the world's most-feared lightweights - in his first outing at 135lbs.
It not only secured the stepping stone of the WBO intercontinental title but also marked the beginning of a new era in Mitchell's so-far steady rise. Now he can call himself a world-class fighter, soon he can start chasing some of the biggest names in the game.
And if he can reproduce the guile and guts he displayed in Newcastle, there's no reason why he cannot join Khan, David Haye and Carl Froch in draping a Union Jack over one shoulder and a world championship belt over the other.
Few who witnessed his unanimous points win would back against him. The first round was all about introductions and was kept at a fairly safe distance, but as soon as Mitchell had made it past 54 second, he had gone one better than Amir Khan.
Even then though, it was evident that Prescott was pinning his hopes on another monster knockout, his jab conspicuous by its absence but that big right permanently cocked.
Mitchell's movement was excellent from the off and if he needed a reminder to stay mobile it came on the ropes in round two, four big shots swinging in to the body before he got back on his bike.
Intervention
The third saw him darting in and out again, his left a more than useful counter checking Prescott's lunging advances and looking good at the same time. But again the slightest lapse in concentration and the Colombian was all over him, backing him with bodyshots on the ropes.
Again though, it focused Mitchell's mind and when he got trapped in a corner in the fourth, he turned his man neatly, held on for the referee's intervention and then, swayed smartly out of the way of not one but two of Prescott's punches - which it must be said came from a mile away with all the stealth of a 747.
In the fifth, the fight really came to life. First Mitchell landed a peach of a left, Prescott returned the compliment with a right hook and the next time they came together, a clash of heads left the Colombian dabbing at a cut above his left eye.
The next time the pair came together, Mitchell took a heavy left, immediately threw his arms into the air, urged his man in and in an instant showed he was in his element dodging and ducking punches, dancing and making Prescott look decidedly sloppy.
The Colombian's frustrations came to the boil in the sixth when he complained - not for the first time - to the referee, although it was about all how he contributed to a session dominated by the Brit. As the time passed, his confidence grew and by the midway point Mitchell was the one starting and more, often that not, finishing any meaningful exchanges.
Two left hooks confirmed his dominance in the next round and a lovely straight left on the way out laid the foundations for the easiest round of the night and as Prescott trudged back to his corner, he wore the look of a man short of cunning and composure, slowly being exposed in front of an engrossed Newcastle crowd.
Mitchell's left landed three times in the seventh the last another straight that staggered the Colombian's spindly legs and perhaps finally took the sting out of him. He tried to get in range but could not cut off the ring, fathom Mitchell's lateral movement or land with either hand.
Consummate
Only in the ninth did Prescott show signs of a rally, a right-left-right to the body taking Mitchell's attention downstairs before a long, lacerating left caught him flush and forced him to take a step back. The ninth round was interrupted by referee Dave Parris stopping twice to pick ice cubes from the canvas as they fell from Prescott's shorts. The only ice about Mitchell's person was running through his veins.
His showboating in 10 and 11 summed up a consummate night, right-hand leads rubber-stamping his superiority in every department, while Prescott had even had the willingness to wind up a big right sapped from him.
As trainer Jimmy Tibbs succinctly put it, all Mitchell had to do was stay on his feet for the final three minutes which he did with ease to cruise home to a 119-110, 118-111, 117-111 landslide.
