An opponent for Mitchell has yet to be decided but from speaking to Mitchell and members of his team, it’s clear they all want to take a big step forward in the level of competition. Manager Sharif Salim went as far to say that December 2012 is a realistic goal for a title shot.
Anthony Peterson Returns; Dusty Harrison Makes Golden Boy Debut
Anthony Peterson returns on the undercard of his brother’s show after a year-plus layoff. It was last September when he suffered the first loss of his career in a disqualification against Brandon Rios. Trainer Barry Hunter said only that Anthony had some “things he had to deal with” as the reason for his inactivity.
17-year-old Dusty Harrison, also from the DC area, will make his Golden Boy Promotions debut after receiving word Thursday just before the press conference that he had been granted a waiver to fight in the District at age 17. It will be his third professional fight and his first since severing ties with Prize Fight Promotions.
Steve Cunningham Loses Title with Controversy
Former cruiserweight king Steve Cunningham lost a controversial six-round technical split decision on Saturday to Yoan Pablo Hernandez in Germany. Cunningham was dropped hard in round one, struggling to beat the count. After barely beating the count, in a veteran move, he took a few steps to regain his balance, buying himself valuable seconds to recover, and was able to survive the round.
Technically, referee Mickey Vann could’ve could stopped the fight when he took those few steps but in watching the tape, it looked like Cunningham was walking to his corner thinking the round was over. Stopping the fight would have been a difficult call for Vann.
Maxboxing-East Radio scored the bout 58-55 for Cunningham. In addition to the controversy of the scoring, it appeared the cut that led to the premature stoppage was under control and that Hernandez could have easily continued. A caller on the “East Coast Boxing Report,” Bobby from Anaheim, made a good point as he said that when Cunningham signed with Sauerland Events, he had to have known there would be a chance of this happening in Germany.
Cunningham has asked for an immediate rematch but both parties signed an agreement that the winner would face Troy Ross in his next bout. Cunningham appeared on the Maxboxing-East Internet Radio broadcast on Tuesday to discuss the bout and controversy. That interview can be heard here:
Vernon Paris, Miguel “Silky Smooth” Gonzales Continue to Impress
Coming off his most impressive win as a pro, Vernon Paris, 26-0 (15) with 2 no-contests, easily out pointed the durable Ruben Galvan via scores of 80-72 on all three scorecards at the Motor City Casino Thursday night. It appears that Paris has firmly put the reputation of being an undisciplined fighter whose lifestyle choices made it impossible to move forward in his career behind him. If this proves to be the case, there’s a new face in the already packed 140-pound division.
Cleveland junior welterweight Miguel Gonzales scored a second round knockout over Humberto Toledo in Detroit. Gonzales has completely turned his career around after two early losses and is doing it the old-fashioned way: by fighting. This was his eighth fight of 2011 and Gonzales is scheduled to fight again in Youngstown on November 12th.
DC Star Night Club, Postponed Show to be Held Saturday
Matchmaker Renee Aiken, whose promotional debut was delayed due to Hurricane Irene, will take place on Saturday night at the DC Star Night Club. Former cruiserweight champion O’Neil Bell will again try to restart his career after being knocked out by Richard Hall in his first comeback bout in June. Bell will face Harvey Jolly, who has faced some decent competition in his past and is hardly an easy out.
The card is loaded with local favorites such as Jesse Nicklow, Henry Buchanan, Thomas Snow and the exciting Tony Jeter, although none of them should be in any danger of losing as they are paired with less than formidable opposition. The best prospect on the card is young junior middleweight Alantez Fox who, unfortunately, is also facing substandard opposition.
