By Liam Brindle: How Impressive was Kevin Mitchell’s win against the lightweight contender and knockout artist Breidis Prescott on the 5th December in Newcastle? When the fight was made I thought it was a leap forward and a leap too far for ‘The Dagenham Destroyer’ because he had never fought anyone who punched like Breidis Prescott before.

The day of the weigh in Prescott said ‘I will knock his head off’ and looking at the two of them stood face to face I would have to agree with what Breidis was saying… He was taller, leaner, looked stronger, fitter and dare I say it meaner.

Although Kevin Mitchell had an air of confidence about himself I could just imagine Breidis Prescott steamrolling him.

So fight night cam and me and a friend where perched on the edge of the couch hoping that Mitchell would not disgrace himself and maybe stay in there for 7 -8 rounds.

To our surprise and viewing pleasure Kevin Mitchell boxed absolutely beautifully from the opening bell. Slipping under Prescott’s wide bombs and countering, letting Prescott throw his punches out of range then stepping in and countering and had much faster hands and feet which were causing Breidis all kinds of problems.

As each round came to an end Prescott was getting more and more wound up and Mitchell continued to whip up the Newcastle crowd. Prescott ran out of ideas as Mitchell carried on slipping his big shots and countering with some nice looking combinations of his own.

In his corner at the end of the 11th going into the 12th Mitchells corner man was saying ‘Don’t worry about hitting him… just don’t get hit…DONT LET HIM HIT YOU’, Mitchell went into the final round offering Prescott his chin in a Prince Naseem esc mannor, Prescott tried to take the bait and was countered yet again.

We all know that Mitchell won by a huge UD, when you bear in mind that just a few years ago Mitchell had a hand injury that threatened his whole boxing career and was working on the London Underground to make ends meet financially, this really is a monumental achievement.