by Geoffrey Ciani (Exclusive Interview by Jenna J & Geoffrey Ciani) – This week’s 153rd edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with rising American heavyweight Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell (24-0-1, 18 KOs), who is coming off an impressive second round stoppage victory against ring veteran Timur Ibragimov (30-4-1, 16 KOs) on December 10. Mitchell spoke about his victory, discussed his future plans, and also shared his views on the current heavyweight champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko. Here are some excerpts from that interview:
Regarding how he evaluates his performance in his second round stoppage victory against Timur Ibragimov:
“As far as my performance, I thought that it was my best performance to date as far as the stage that I was on and my opponent, and his record, and the people that he’s fought. After reviewing the fight there are a couple of things I saw that I could have done better as far as using angles and moving my head a little bit more. Not to take anything away from performance, overall I thought I did a good job as far as the stage. I thought it was good.”
On what he feels allowed him to become the first boxer to stop Ibragimov inside the distance:
“I think a lot of heavyweights or my opponents when I get in the ring, when they look at my physique they know that I’m going to be strong but they underestimate my athletic ability and my equipment. I think a lot of the shots they don’t see coming. They catch them off guard, and my pressure with the way I cut the ring off, I think that surprises them. They’re not able to handle my speed and pressure throughout the course of a fight. I definitely wanted to stop him, but I didn’t want to go out there too reckless. I just wanted to stay behind my jab, and I thought if I did stop him the knockout was going to come around round seven or eight. You know he ran into the left hook, and then I caught him with the right hand and dazed him, and then I just kept following up, and hurt him and got him out of there.”
Regarding how he felt to get the opportunity to showcase his talents for the HBO audience:
“I felt great. You know that’s the stage that I want to be on. A lot of people ask me about the pressure. Is it too much pressure? I tell them nobody puts more pressure on me than myself. I believe in myself. I don’t underestimate any opponents that I step into the ring with, but to be on HBO, to be fighting at home—it was just exciting. I wanted to seize the moment. I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, and I knew that I was on the HBO co-main event because of what I’ve been doing, and that’s been putting on exciting fights and as a heavyweight, showing speed, power, and aggressiveness. I knew that’s what people wanted to see. My main thing was I definitely wanted to win, but I wanted to make a statement and I believe I did Saturday night.”
On how he first became involved in the sport of boxing:
“It’s an amazing story. I never thought about boxing. I was a casual boxing fan. For the people that don’t know, I played football at Michigan State University. When I was healthy I made a lot of noise, but I had a lot of problems with my left knee throughout the duration of my stay at Michigan State. I was circulating my resume. I had retired from football. I called it quits because of my knee. I was circulating my knee, and one day I was watching the 2006 season of The Contender and a newsflash ESPN highlight came on of Tom Zbikowski, who was also at the time a Notre Dame safety and we actually played against each other. They showed his highlights of him fighting at Madison Square Garden on the Cotto under card, and that just inspired me to start boxing because I actually played against him. I was like, if he can do it I can do it, and I set my heart on becoming heavyweight champion of the world that day. If it wasn’t for him, because I actually played against him when he played collegiate level football, you probably wouldn’t be talking to me right now because I had no dreams or aspirations for boxing at all.”
On what he views as the most difficult aspect of the transition from football to boxing:
“To learn how to relax in the ring and to learn how to roll with the punches, that was the main thing. Getting used to it being an individual sport when I’ve always played team sports—basketball and football in high school, and then football in college. You know it was something that I missed. I missed the team comradery. You know what I’m saying? It’s a little scary when you get in that ring by yourself, but learning how to relax. Playing middle linebacker, when you went to take on those fullbacks and things of that nature, and take on those linemen, you had to be tensed up. You had to be able to absorb that impact, but with boxing you got to be loose. Learning how to lift, you know as a football player I lifted a lot for power, and as a boxer I lift a lot more for endurance. I don’t lift any heavy weights at all. If I can’t lift it 25 or 30 times I don’t touch it. I’m letting my muscles elongate. I was more bulked up when I was a football player, but in the ring it was learning to take punches and learning how to relax and how. That was then most difficult thing for me.”
His views on whether or not a lot of people with the potential to make good heavyweight boxers are more inclined to play football instead:
“I wouldn’t necessarily say that that’s true. Athletics alone just won’t get you there. I believe that athletics is definitely my talent and my gift that God has given me. You have to work hard. I think you have to have that x-factor, and I believe that I have it. I believe it’s a combination of everything—me having the talent, me having the skills, the power, the speed. But I’m not thinking that I know it all, with me being a sponge, and me wanting to learn, and me wanting to be successful, and me not thinking I can’t be stopped and I can’t be knocked out. I believe on any given day it could be your day to lose, but it’s just my humility. I think it’s a combination of everything, and just because you’re athletic I don’t think that necessarily translates into being a good boxer. I think it’s a combination of everything.”
On whether he believes he would have had any stamina issues going the distance with Ibragimov given the fact he has not often gone late into fights:
“Absolutely not! If you came down and spent a day or a week watching my train, conditioning wouldn’t even be a question. This is what I do to provide support and financial stability for my family—for my wife and two children. So for me to get into the ring and not be prepared to go twelve rounds, not ten, is just a disgrace to me, to the sport, and to my family. This is what I do! This is my job. I’m going to be prepared to go the distance. I train very hard. My trainer, we go through a lot of different techniques as far as conditioning. So I’m never worried about conditioning, even though I haven’t went the distance in my fights in awhile. I’m definitely prepared to go the distance, and I want people to continue to think that I can’t go the distance and that they’re going to take me into deep waters because that will just cause problems for them. But to answer your question, I had no problems going ten rounds. If you look at my punch stats, I threw `130 punches in less than two rounds and wasn’t breathing hard. Conditioning is no concern for me.”
Regarding how he first started working with trainer Andre Hunter and how the working relationship as trainer-fighter is working out:
“I started with him from the beginning, going back to how I got involved with boxing. After I saw Tom Zbikowski when I decided to box, I called back home to my high school coach Maurice Banks, who was like a mentor to me, and I told him I’m serious about this boxing. Do you know of anybody that you could introduce me to, to get my foot in the door? And he introduced me to my manager Sharif Salim, and by me knowing Coach Banks’ character I didn’t have to question anything about Mr. Salim. I knew he would never introduce me to anyone that would harm me in any way. So I linked up with Mr. Salin and he chose a gym that was close by. It wasn’t a gym that I knew about. I just said okay. I’m going to be driving to the gym so I didn’t want to have to be traveling far. So we went to Old School. That’s where I started boxing and from there I linked up with Andre Hunter after my first week in the gym, and our team has been together ever since. They’re my trainers and my managers, but they’re my friends. I know they have my best interests at heart. They’re good people. I can call and talk to him and it doesn’t even have to be about boxing. We go out to eat sometimes and we don’t even bring boxing up. He knows me to a tee. He knows some days I’m training hard and I might be going to the gym, and I’ll be saying to myself damn! I wish I didn’t have to do this certain drill today, because it’s like an excruciating drill for me and it tires me out when I’m already tired. I might go in there and he’ll be like, okay we’re not going to do this today because you worked hard yesterday and your boxy needs rest. He knows when to push me and he knows when to layoff, so we just have a great rapport. I mean it’s just great to have him in my corner.”
His views on how much he has improved as a boxer during the course of the last year:
“I think I have improved tremendously. When I talk to my manager you always hear learning curve. You might stay stagnant for a little bit, and then like in four months I might come back to the gym and be like hey coach, I just hit another learning curve. I can’t explain why or how, but I can feel it in the way I’m shadow boxing, and in the way I’m just throwing different feints and things of that nature. When I say that this is my gift, I truly believe it is. I work hard. I try to be a sponge. I watch a lot of different fighters to pick up little techniques and little mannerisms that they do. Okay I like it. Why is he feinting this way? Okay! He’s feinting to set up this. He’s feinting his right hand to throw the left hook, and things of that nature, little subtle things that I try to pick up. A lot of people see me and they think that I’m just a brawler. They think that all I can do is that I got good punching power, but my hardest fights are in the gym sparring and most of that comes with Tony Thompson. I’ve been sparring with Tony Thompson since about six months into my fighting career, and I definitely have learned a lot from him. Getting hit upside the head by him is the best way to learn. My grandma used to play cards and used to gamble for money, and I used to say, ‘Grandma, can I play?’ and she said, ‘The best way to learn how to play is when you’re putting your money up there and you’re losing your money’. So the best way for me is learning with Tony Thompson in the ring. That experience is invaluable man. I can fight backing up. Even if you watch the fight, Ibragimov tried to press me a little bit so I had to adjust a little bit and I could fight backing up or going forward. I just think I bring a lot to the table, but a lot of people don’t get to see it. But I think they saw a little bit of it on Saturday night because of the stage I was on.”
Regarding which boxers in the game today he admires most and why:
“I like a lot of fighters. My favorite fighter is Miguel Cotto. Why? Because I think he handles himself impeccably inside and outside of the ring. You know I’m big on character and morals, and I think he just exemplifies that. He doesn’t talk trash, and at the same time he’s very confident, he’s not cocky, and he’s very serious about his craft and he’s all business. I think I have a lot of those attributes. Don’t get me wrong. I believe in myself and I believe I’m going to win each and every fight when I step in that ring, but I like when other people give me praises instead of it coming from my mouth. At the same time, I’m very confident in my abilities. I don’t talk a lot of trash. I just go out there and do work, and try to entertain the fans. I think Floyd Mayweather is the best fighter hands down! When I watch him, I admire what he does in the ring. But Miguel Cotto is my favorite fighter for that reason—how he conducts himself in the ring and outside of the ring.”
His views on heavyweight champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko and how long he believes it will take to be ready for one of the brothers:
“I think that they are great fighters! I mean they might not, and I say this a lot, the might not have the most exciting fighting styles but they use their God-given attributes—their height and their power—to the best of their ability. They fight very tall and they’re good! You got to respect them. Everybody knows what they have to do to get in there and beat them, but it’s not a coincidence that when people get in there with them they can’t do what they want to do. They’re good! A lot of people say the Klitschkos man, they’re sorry. Hey! You can call them what you want, but my thing is don’t talk about them—beat them! I think if I continue to progress, I don’t think I’m ready to fight the Klitschkos right now but I think I need about four or five more fights. Sometime in the first half of 2013, if I get that call hopefully my trainer and I will put together a great game plan and I can go in there and execute it. Win, lose, or draw, if I ever get that opportunity, I’m a fighter! I’m not going to run around. I’m a fighter! That’s what I do. I think the Klitschkos, hey! They’re good! You can’t knock them. Just beat them.”
On whether he believes he would have a better chance against Wladimir Klitschko due to the fact Vitali is widely perceived as the tougher and more durable of the two:
“You know, I mean think of them bring different things to the table. I think the younger brother definitely hits harder. The older brother, I think he’s a little tougher and he poses more of a threat because he will bang with you a little bit more, but he opens himself up more. He throws uppercuts, he throws body shots, whereas the younger Klitschko has better balance, he moves better on his legs, and he keeps his distance better, but all you really have to worry about is his jab and his straight right hand. But the older brother, I think he’ll get in there and he’ll mix it up more. He throws punches from different angles, so you have different things that you have to be weary of when you fight either of the Klitschko brothers. I wouldn’t say one is easier to fight than the other.”
Regarding what he would like to say to all of his fans and supporters:
“I just want to thank everybody for their support. If they’re looking for somebody that fits the part where they’re going to put on exciting fights, that’s going to let their hands go, and is going to bring excitement back to the heavyweight division—I think I definitely fit that bill. Somebody that’s humble, that’s grounded, I fit that bill and I’m just excited and I’m just happy for what I’m doing and for what the future holds. I’m going to continue to work hard. I just ask that they continue to keep me in their prayers and I’ll do the same. I want to thank you all for having me on and giving me a chance to be heard so people can hear my voice. People can follow me on Twitter @SethMayhem48 “
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For those interested in listening to the Seth Mitchell interview in its entirety, it begins approximately one hour and ten minutes into the program.
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