[Previous entry: "David Diaz vs. Ramazan Palyani for IBA Lightwt. World Championship Dec. 10th!"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Photo of the Day: Weezel Rocks!"]
11/16/2005 Archived Entry: "MAYWEATHER VS MITCHELL HITS PORTLAND"
MAYWEATHER VS MITCHELL HITS PORTLAND
By K. Dunn
There hasn’t been a professional boxing show in the city of Portland, Oregon since Roy Jones Jr. defeated Clinton Woods in September of 2002. That HBO broadcast drew a big live gate to the Rose Garden, and the Arena has teamed again with HBO, Goossen-Tutor Promotions, and the local behemoth Nike to do it all again Saturday night, Nov. 19 with Floyd Mayweather Jr. plunging into the welterweight division in a non-title bout against veteran Sharmba Mitchell.
On Monday, Mitchell and Floyd Mayweather Jr. had public workouts for the benefit of the press in the luxurious facility at the Nike campus in Beaverton, Oregon. That will be headquarters for Mayweather and his large entourage for the rest of the week. But on Tuesday Sharmba Mitchell and his trainer were quietly tending to business in the old and much-used home of the Knott Street Boxing Club at Matt Dishman Community Center in North Portland. Mitchell said it was a relief to get back into a real boxing gym. "Nike is nice," he said. "But it just doesn’t feel right."
The Southpaw Mitchell has been training in Florida for months and said Portland’s 50 to 60 degree temperatures seems cold but he’s comfortable in the 147 pound division and feeling good. The deep bruise below his left eye is, he says, left over from a head butt in his last fight, a June 11, 2005 win over Chris Smith.
Portland native Steve Forbes is also doing his last week of fine-tuning at the Knott Street Boxing Club, where his amateur career began. Forbes, the former IBF 130 pound champ, will be fighting on the undercard in a ten round bout –his first professional appearance in his hometown.
Olympian Andre Ward will also be a featured attraction on this card.
The weigh-in will begin at 2 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 18 in the Crystal Ballroom of the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland.
As of Tuesday, the 56 round card as approved by the Oregon State Boxing Commission, looked like this:
12 rounds at 147 lbs., Floyd Mayweather Jr. (34-0, 23 KO’s) of Grand Rapids, MI vs Sharmba Mitchell (56-4, 31 KO’s) of Washington D.C.
10 rounds at 140 lbs., Steve Forbes (28-3, 8 KO’s) of Las Vegas via Portland, OR vs Julio Cesar Sanchez (22-15-1, 14 KO’s) of Mexicali, Mexico
6 rounds, 160 lbs., Andre Ward (6-0, 4 KO’s) of Oakland, CA vs Darnell Boone (5-2-1, 3 KO’s) of Youngstown, OH
8 rounds, Wes Ferguson (11-1-1, 3 KO’s) of Flint, MI vs Silverio Ortiz (12-7, 6 KO’s) of Los Angeles, CA
6 rounds, Nelson Zepeda (3-0, 2 KO’s) of Portland, OR vs Robert "Bo" Marthaller (3-1, 2 KO’s) of Portland, OR
4 rounds, Selso Bosquez (3-1, 2 KO’s) of Portland, OR vs Refugio Navarro (4-3) of Compton, CA
4 rounds, Osvaldo Rojas (2-0, 1 KO) of Portland, OR vs Tefo Seetso (1-0) of Denver, CO via Botswana.
6 rounds, Lorenzo Reynolds (9-0, 4 KO’s) of Saginaw, MI vs Rafael Ortiz (8-9-1, 6 KO’s) of Los Angeles, CA.
