04.02.04 – By Marc Abrams: This Saturday was supposed to be one of the best Showtime Championship Boxing Nights in a long time, buy as it goes in the sport of boxing some of the best laid plans must wait. In a cross continent doubleheader, Kostya Tszyu was going to defend his undisputed 140 pound championship against Sharmba Mitchell in a rematch, the champs homeland of Moscow, Russia.
The 2nd intriguing battle was slated to be the potential continued ascension in the heavyweight division of former middleweight champ James Toney as he was going to try to slay the mammoth Jameel McCline in Las Vegas. But injuries to both Tszyu and Toney forced the cancellation of this great show.
Promoter Gary Shaw made a Patrick Roy type save as he will stage a bout for an interim belt between Mitchell and the Lovemore N’dou, in Atlantic City
The 33 year old, Washington D.C. native Mitchell is the former WBA champ at this weight, and brings an outstanding record of 52 wins, 3 losses with 29 wins coming via the knockout route. He won the title in October, 1998 with a unanimous decision victory over Khalid Rahilou. He defended the title 4 times. In February, 2001 He met Tszyu in a unification bout. The fight was close on the scorecards when Mitchell was unable to continue after the 7th round due to what later turned out to be partial ligament tear in his left knee. Sharmba took 13 months off and has worked real hard, compiling a 5-0(1) since his return. The last bout was an pretty easy decision win over the tough Ben Tackie last May.
N’Dou , 32, fights out of Sydney, Australia by way of South Africa, has a record of 36-5-1(22 KO’s). He doesn’t really have any recognizable names on his ledger, having fought most of his fights in Australia, after starting his career in his Native South Africa. This will be his 3rd fight in the states.
I would totally understand if Mitchell isn’t as focused early in the fight as he should be. He had probably envisioned waking up on Sunday morning after avenging his loss to Tsyzu, but it wasn’t in the cards just yet as the fight has been cancelled for a 2nd time. All things considered, Mitchell is a world class boxer and N’Dou is not. The South African was brought here to be durable and provide some rounds as I believe he will, with Mitchell pounding an easy decision and looking foreword to getting the champ in the ring later this year.