Undefeated super featherweight Commonwealth champion Kevin Mitchell (25-0, 18 KOs) easily destroyed his last minute substitute opponent Edison Torres (41-34-4, 27 KOs) in the 3rd round of a scheduled 1-round non-title bout at the York Hall, in Bethnal Green, London. Mitchell, 23 landed three left hooks in the third round, sending Torres sliding against the ropes out on his feet. The referee Ian John-Lewis then moved in and halted the bout.
Afterwards, Torres was given Oxygen at ringside as a precaution due to the severity of the stoppage. Torres, 39, had been hurt in the opening moments of the round with a left hook from Mitchell that send Torres flying to the ropes. From there, Mitchell tore him into him with left hooks to the head, staggering him badly. Torres retreated across the ring, taking shots as he moved backwards.
Finally, Mitchell caught up with him and hit him with five consecutive left hooks to the head, leading to the stoppage. Torres, however, was never expected to give Mitchell much of a problem, as the 39 year-old fighter had previously lost his last 13 of 16 fights going into the bout with Mitchell on Saturday night. Due to the cancellation of Mitchell’s first choice, Carl Johanneson and then with another fighter failing to sign on for the card, Mitchell had to settle for the veteran Torres.
Mitchell, ranked #4 in the World Boxing Organization, blasted away at Torres in the 1st round, hitting him with left hooks and 1-2 combinations throughout the round. On rare occasions, Torres would answer back with his own shots, but they were far slower and often didn’t land. Mitchell caught Torres against the ropes late in the round and landed several devastating punches, one of them staggering Torres for an instant. However, he quickly recovered and moved away before Mitchell could build on what he had started.
In the 2nd round, Mitchell continued pounding away on the nearly defenseless Torres, hitting him repeatedly with hooks to the face, and digging body shots. Around midpoint of the round, Mitchell again staggered Torres with a left hook, driving him to the ropes from the force of the shot. Mitchell then hit him with a series of combinations while Torres was backed up against the ropes, all of the shots landing flush to the head. I thought then that the fight would be stopped by the referee, as Torres was putting up no resistance and taking a tremendous beating.
However, miraculously, Torres began punching back at Mitchell and hit him with several combinations and straight right hands. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long, because Mitchell started back in on him and finished the round pelting him with blow after blow without Torres answering back.
In the 3rd round, Mitchell looked as if he wanted to end things as he came out of his corner, proceeding to tear into Torres with left hooks. In point of fact, that’s pretty much all Mitchell threw in the round, left hooks, and to be honest, he did anything more because Torres was nothing more than a human punching bag in the round. Moments into the round, Mitchell badly hurt Torres with a left hook. Once he got him hurt, Mitchell quickly finished him off with a series of deadly placed left hooks as Torres reeled around the ring.
Mitchell looked excellent in the bout, showing both speed and fluid combinations as he took apart Torres. Mitchell will likely be fighting next on March 8th on the undercard of David Haye vs. Enzo Maccarinelli, hopefully against Carl Johanneson if everything goes as planned. It’s still hard to tell how good Mitchell is as a fighter, because he’s fought almost exclusively low level fighters in his career up to this point. Johanneson, in fact, will be Mitchell’s first true test, if they’re able to set up the fight with him. At 23, Mitchell has a lot of time to progress.
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