By James Slater – Unfortunately yet another fight set for this year has fallen through. Rising heavyweight star Seth Mitchell was to have taken on the durable and experienced Johnathon Banks on the July 14th Amir Khan-Danny Garcia card in Las Vegas, but “Mayhem” who has just turned 30, injured his right hand during his April 28th slugfest with Chazz Witherspoon..
The former football player attempted to carry on training after the three-round win over Witherspoon, in the hope that the sprain would go away by itself, yet Richard Schaefer, in speaking with ESPN.com, said the injury was more serious than that.
“He injured his right hand in his last fight, which was five weeks ago, but he thought the injury would go away,” Schaefer said. “He went to the doctor and the doctor said that nothing is broken but he recommended that Seth not do any sparring or have any contact for the next six to eight weeks. If the doctor says the hand needs to be in a splint, obviously there is not going to be a fight.”
It’s a shame Mitchell’s progress up the heavyweight ladder will now be slowed down, if only for a relatively short time. The Banks fight would have been a good test. Unbeaten as a heavyweight, Detroit’s Banks has lost only to former cruiserweight king Tomasz Adamek, who he challenged for his IBF belt back in 2009. Adamek stopped Banks in the 8th and it would have been interesting to see whether or not Mitchell could have stopped Banks in a quicker fashion.
Schaefer said there would be a replacement bout “worthy of an HBO World Championship Boxing opening bout on July 14th.”
Mitchell will now rest and heal, and Golden Boy say his next fight will see him back on T.V. For Banks the cancelled fight is also a huge letdown, and the former cruiserweight title challenger who spars regularly with both Klitschko brothers will be hoping his big chance comes again at a later date. Something tells me Banks, 28-1-1(18) would have given Mitchell, 25-9(19) a very tough learning fight.