Mighty Kevin Mitchell Returns

With all the hype surrounding Olympic Silver Medallist Amir Khan another hot young prospect is ready to punch his way back into the spotlight.

Super-featherweight star Kevin Mitchell is back!

The power-punching youngster from Dagenham injured his left hand in April this year against Karim Chakhim that forced him to stay out of action. The injury was a re-occurrence of the one he sustained last December when he boxed Henry Janes that left him out of the ring until April.

Following intense sessions of physiotherapy with sports specialists and plenty of rest, Mitchell has fully recovered and he is now raring to go for the new boxing season that will see him fight every month from September to December to make up for lost time.

The first fight will be a six-round contest on Friday 23 September on the Sports Network/Debra* charity show at the Hilton Hotel Park Lane on the undercard of the Vacant English Welterweight title clash between Ross Minter and Matthew Hatton to be televised by ITV.

“As any boxer will tell you sitting out because of an injury is the most frustrating thing in the world. I was desperate to go to the gym and train and wanted to fight but I couldn’t because every time I hit the heavy bags or sparred my hand blew up to twice it’s normal size.” Said the unbeaten 20-year-old.

He continued, “No disrespect to my last three opponents but had my hand been okay they would not have lasted the distance with me. It was good experience going the distance and getting the rounds in but at this stage of my career I want to be blasting them out of there early and really making a name for myself,”

Prior to the injury, Mitchell was blitzing his way through the division that saw him in action nine times last year with six KO’s and he is ready to resume that work schedule again.

Mitchell, who won the ABA Senior title at his first attempt at 18, added, “After seeing a specialist, who has also worked with Naseem Hamed, he put me on a special course of physiotherapy and I went away on holiday to get away from things. When I returned, I did do light work-outs like shadow boxing and skipping in the gym to keep my weight in check and fitness ticking over so I wasn’t totally inactive but it was a frustrating time,”

His patience has paid off and now he is primed and ready for his big return. “Now I’ve been given the all clear I’m just so excited about returning in September and getting my career back on track. I’m just as excited as I was when I was preparing to make my professional debut. I feel great, my hands are fine and I’m punching and sparring with no problems. In fact I reckon I’m punching harder than before,”

He finished by saying, “I’ve spoken to my promoter Frank Warren and he’s going to keep me really busy by fighting four times between now and Christmas with the possibility of a title opportunity. It’s up to me now to get back into the spotlight and I aim to put in some real eye-catching performances to make people sit up and take notice. Mitchell’s back!”

*The Sports Network show will assist DebRA, who help promote research into the cause, nature, treatment and cure of the skin genetic disorder Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) to raise the initial funding to develop the worlds first clinical research centre for EB at The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London.