Kevin Mitchell (boxer)
Kevin Mitchell (born 29 October 1984) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2015. He challenged twice for a lightweight world title in 2012 and 2015. At regional level, he held the Commonwealth super featherweight title from 2006 to 2008 and the British super featherweight title in 2008. Amateur career As an amateur, Mitchell won the senior-level ABA featherweight title in 2003, at the age of 18. Professional career Mitchell made his professional debut for promoter Frank Warren on 17 July 2003, scoring a first-round knockout of Stevie Quinn. On 10 December 2005, Mitchell stopped Mohammed Medjadji in six rounds to win the vacant IBF Inter-Continental super-featherweight title, his first regional championship. Commonwealth and British super-featherweight champion On 28 October 2006, Mitchell defeated George Ashie by twelve-round unanimous decision to win the vacant Commonwealth super-featherweight title. Two defences of this title came against Harry Ramogoadi on 10 March 2007 (sixth-round TKO) and Carl Johanneson on 8 March 2008 (ninth-round TKO). In the Johanneson fight, Mitchell also won the British super-featherweight title, but it would be prove to a very tough outing for him, as Johanneson had managed to draw level on the judges' scorecards by the time of the stoppage. Moving up to lightweight In 2009, Mitchell began his campaign at lightweight with the aim of winning a world title. Wins over Lanquaye Wilson on 22 May (third-round TKO) and Ruddy Encarnacion on 18 July (eighth-round TKO) served as a prelude to what would be one of Mitchell's most acclaimed performances to date, against Breidis Prescott on 5 December. Prescott, notorious for his punching power and shocking knockout of Amir Khan in 2008, had virtually no answer for Mitchell's skilful use of range, movement and accurate punches. At the end of the twelve-round distance, the judges scored the fight as a wide unanimous decision for Mitchell, handing him his 31st consecutive professional victory and the WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title. First defeat With the win over Prescott inching Mitchell ever closer to a world title opportunity, one final hurdle awaited him on 15 May 2010 at Boleyn Ground stadium, which took place in front of 15,000 fans. On the line was the WBO interim title, held by hard-hitting slugger Michael Katsidis, as well as a chance to fight for a full world title later in the year. At the opening bell, Mitchell looked to establish his jab and keep Katsidis at bay. In the first two evenly split rounds, the occasional flurry of hooks from a highly aggressive Katsidis was enough to make Mitchell fight consistently on the back foot in an attempt to keep out of range. However, in the closing seconds of both rounds, Katsidis was able to launch a charging attack and finish strongly at the bell. In the third round, Katsidis continued to charge at Mitchell and was soon able to land a combination of hooks which made Mitchell stumble backwards on unsteady legs. From thereon, Mitchell was unable to fully regain his