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Former two-time world champion Byron “Gator” Mitchell says his comeback won’t be derailed by one setback.
Mitchell took a short-notice chance at a quick bump in the world ratings and paid for it over the weekend by suffering his fifth career loss to undefeated Kazakhstan native Beibut Shumenov at the Stadium Khadjimukan in Chimkent, Kazakhstan, via fourth round TKO.
“We weren’t really in the gym, but we got the call and decided to give it a shot,” explained the disappointed Mitchell, who took the Shumenov matchup on 48 hours notice, flew 27 hours and landed on the day of the fight at 9 am.
To compound his disadvantages, Mitchell was then forced to drop some weight pre-fight.
“I take nothing away from this kid Shumenov, he fought well,” said Mitchell. “But that wasn’t the real Gator in there. I’d like to face him again under more even circumstances.”
Mitchell’s promoter, Nick Garone of X-Cel Worldwide, says although the entire team knew the odds they were up against, the opportunity to fight for the International Boxing Association , WBO Asia Pacific, WBC Asian Boxing Council and interim PABA light heavyweight championships in one fight was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
“We knew going in it was a steep hill to climb, but a loss like this is explainable and doesn’t affect our future plans with Byron,” said Garone. “He still has his NABA US title and he’ll be back.”
