The Kostya Tszyu-Sharmba Mitchell bout has been one of the more heavily-hyped ring showdowns of the past twelve months.  Ever since his devastating victory over Zab Judah, Tszyu has comfortably assumed an aura of quiet invincibility that makes him a legitimate threat to the physical well-being of any opponent 140 pounds or less.  That said, I think Sharmba can (will?) beat him.  Here's why.

 

To begin with, Tszyu is a fairly mechanical fighter.  People tend not to remember it now (given Kostya's crushing triumph) but Judah perforated Tszyu's less than airtight defense on several occasions in their all-too-brief first encounter; Sharmba may not be as quick as Judah was then, but he is a skilled and polished boxer who - I feel - can counterpunch Tszyu effectively.  Should this happen, I tend to believe that Kostya will back off and fight a more tactical fight than he would otherwise.  Should that happen, then the slick and smart southpaw Mitchell's  chances of victory improve exponentially.

Simply put, I feel that Mitchell has the jab and skills to befuddle Tszyu. People are overlooking this (at their peril, I might add) but Tszyu hasn't fought since January 2003. Say what you will about the salubrious effects of road work; it still isn't a worthy substitute for the real thing.  I truly believe that Kostya's conditioning will be an issue in this fight, and I don't believe he will drop Sharmba as he did in their first meeting (and yes, I do admit I'm going out on a limb by saying that), because Mitchell has studied that first fight and will not repeat those same mistakes.  And, lest we forget, Sharmba Mitchell is a southpaw, with all of the novel angles and in-ring geometrical challenges that lefties have always presented to orthodox fighters.  Without putting too great an emphasis upon it, I foresee that left hand of Mitchell's counter-acting Tszyu's right, thus turning the bout into Mitchell's kind of scrap (and let's face it: a methodical, technical fight suits Sharmba very well as he does not want to get into any wild exchanges with the rock-fistedTszyu).

 

My prediction?  Well, one never knows for certain in boxing, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say Mitchell by decision over a surprisingly soft and  cumbersome Tszyu."