"BRAVE HEART"... by Grantlee Kieza

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can confirm to braggingrightscorner.com readers that the contents of the above linked article entitled "BRAVE HEART" are true, as I watched Kostya Tszyu interviewed on an Australian breakfast show this morning and he confirmed the pre-fight injury when the subject was raised.

Tszyu said he didn't see the point making the injury public as it would look like he was whingeing and making excuses, something that he doesn't like to do. He didn't look comfortable talking about the subject anyway as it was something he did not tell the press, Johnny Lewis his trainer let it out.

This is in sharp contrast to comments I have read on boxingtalk.net  where Sharmba Mitchell let a few excuses fly along with some honest home truths.

Here are a few quotes from Sharmba Mitchell's interview with Greg Leon:

• Mitchell: "I boxed the first round but I didn't even box the way I usually do."
  My thoughts: Funny, I had Mitchell winning a close first round. He won this better than the first round of their first encounter.
   
• Mitchell: "Coming into the second round, when I got hit with the punch I got into another mode. I just beat myself up by falling into the trap of fighting how he wanted to fight."
  My thoughts: Tszyu's punch landed so fast and so hard and they sent Mitchell into a bit of shock and threw him off his game plan, and isn't that the name of the game?
   
• Mitchell: "I saw what he wanted to do and I think he was fighting like he wanted to get it over with because he didn't want to see any of the later rounds, so he was shooting all of his hard shots then."
  My thoughts: A complete cop out. Tszyu was throwing punches in a short, sharp and efficient manner like he usually does, there was no desperation in his actions, it was all very well planned and calculated. Tszyu has a history of getting stronger in fights and Mitchell has a history of fading. I guess Sharmba hasn't learnt as much as I thought, he needs to accept he was beaten by the better man.
   
• Mitchell: I was so overanxious that I got caught up, so I deserved what I got, I was trying to prove something and didn't fight my fight so I deserved what I got."
  My thoughts:  I guess that's as close to the truth as we will hear from Sharmba Mitchell. If he didn't fight his fight and was overanxious I think that is admitting Kostya Tszyu is a mentally stronger fighter.
   

• Mitchell:  "He deserves all the credit he's going to receive just like I deserved what I got for fighting how I fought."
  My thoughts:  How true. Could the truth be sinking in.
  
   

11-09-2004