This past Saturday night, Dagenham lightweight Kevin Mitchell took his first steps on the comeback trail by recording a wide 80-71 verdict over Frenchman Sebastien Benito. Benito (9st 13lbs) proved to be an excellent choice of opponent, stretching Mitchell without threatening him, over 8 rounds at a sweltering York Hall. Mitchell (10st) started brightly and his combinations looked slick and effective from the opening bell. Benito had the longer arms and got through with jabs of his own as Kevin walked forward.

The fight followed a pretty consistent pattern of Kevin stepping in with eye catching combinations without ever really putting his foot to the floor and there was a definite feel of the fight being a bit of a training exercise. That may be doing a disservice to Benito as had come to fight and soaked up a lot of punishment. Whenever Kevin looked as though he might be about to end the fight early, Benito would throw enough back to keep Mitchell honest and to let the referee know he was still very much in the contest.

Mitchell threw the full gamut of shots, jabbing well and landing left hooks and right uppercuts with great regularity. However, he never really got out of 2nd gear and surely would have pressed for the stoppage had this not been a fight coming off a bad loss and a long layoff. There was plenty to be encouraged about however. I spoke to Kevin's sister Cheryl before the fight and she confirmed that he's much happier in his life outside the ring than he has been for a while so with some big domestic fights with Crolla, Rees, Matthews et al easily made, there's potential for Mitchell to get his career back on track. Mitchell still sells a lot of tickets, he's still entertaining to watch and he's still only 28. Plenty to looks forward to for fighter and fans alike if Mitchell fulfills his desire to be much busier from here on.

Also on this very hot and sweaty night at a sold out York Hall was a Light Welterweight Prizefighter, won in spectacular fashion by young Welshman Chris Jenkins. Jenkins stopped Surrey's Danny Connor in the 2nd round of the final after dropping him in the 1st. Crashing in big right hands from the off, Jenkins had too much for the more established Connor and looks a real prospect. Jenkins and Connor earned their spots in the final with victories over Eren Arif and Ryan Taylor respectively. The losing quarter finalists were Tony Owen, Charlie Rice, Liam Shinkwin and Matty Tew.


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