After injuries to Kostya Tszyu (who was supposed to fight Mitchell) and James Toney, who was scheduled to fight Jameel McCline on this date, they did an excellent job bringing in N'Dou for an exciting match up on short notice.  Mitchell won a unanimous decision over N'Dou in a very entertaining fight.  Although Mitchell didn't get to beat the Australian he initially intended on fighting, the 140 pound "super champ" Tszyu, he had to be on top of his game just the same.  N'Dou came to fight and came forward the entire 12 rounds prompting many observers to see the fight closer than the judges who all scored the fight for Mitchell, by scores of 118-110, 117-112, and 115-113.

N'Dou talked the talk before the fight and walked the walk during the fight.  Both men fought their fight and appeared to be in excellent shape.  I scored the fight 116-112 for Mitchell and felt during the fight that if anything I was being generous to N'Dou.  Although N'Dou was often the aggressor and  seemed to land the harder punches, it appeared that Mitchell was very focused and from my view ringside he appeared to outwork N'Dou, using his speed and answering N'Dou bigger shots with punches in bunches.  However, due to Mitchell throwing a lot of punches without a lot of steam on them, and being caught with the bigger shots, I can see the fight going a few points in either direction of my score. 

A closer look at the judge's cards shows that only 6 of the 12 rounds were scored the same by all 3 judges.  That fact can be viewed as troubling, but due to the subjective judging criteria, especially, "ring generalship" and "effective aggressiveness," I can see it happening legitimately in this type of fight.

N'Dou took this fight on short notice against Mitchell who was training for Kostya Tszyu.  Mitchell did not lose his focus when Tszyu fell out with an injury and N'Dou was grateful to finally get the chance to fight for a world title after fighting professionally for almost 11 years.  In fact, when N'Dou arrived in frigid Atlantic City, he couldn't get into a gym quick enough and had to spar for a few days with a sparring partner he brought with him in his hotel room. 

N'Dou obviously came to fight explaining that he threw more, and he thought he won.  He said look at Mitchell's face and look at his own, and you can see who won.  Mitchell said that all N'Dou could do was keep coming forward, he admitted that he took a few rounds off, but said that N'Dou didn't really have good power, and also complained about getting thumbed several times in the fight.  When asked if the cut he received from an accidental head butt in the 5th bothered him, he explained that he had to overcome it, but he doesn't like it because he likes to look pretty.

I'd like to see either of these guys fight again, as the 140-pound division is shaping up to be one of the most interesting in boxing.  N'Dou was not given much of a chance to win, and deserves a lot of credit for coming to America and on short notice giving a good fight to one of the top 140 pounders and a guy who is very difficult to fight when he is on his game.  Hopefully Tszyu will return soon to defend his 140-pound crown.  In the mean time there are many interesting fights out there for Mitchell including, Arturo Gatti, Zab Judah, Ricky Hatton and Vivian Harris just to name a few.  With this fight N'Dou throws himself into the mix as well. 

There are also many others excellent match ups awaiting any of the aforementioned fighters just one weight class above or below 140.  Mitchell said that although he still has no problem making 140 at age 33 and fighting as a professional for almost 15 years, he'd move up to 147 for the right fight.

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