Seth Mitchell survives opening round to stop Witherspoon in 3

www.12sportsonline.comBoth heavyweight college graduates received valuable lessons from their 3 round barnburner on HBO Saturday night...and each lived up to their adopted monikers.  "Gentleman" Chazz Witherspoon could not close the show in the opening stanza when he had Seth "Mayhem" Mitchell on Queer Street, paying for  the failure 2 rounds later.  Rather than attack Mitchell's wobbly body, Witherspoon allowed the former linebacker at Michigan State to tie him up and survive.  Between rounds, Seth regained his senses, and "Mayhem" went on the attack, continually landed heavy body shots the rest of the way until the fight was halted with Chazz unable to protect himself in round three.  The knockout for Mitchell, following a left hook that dropped Witherspoon,  (stoppage by ref Randy Newmann at 2:31 round 3) was his 9th straight and 19th of his undefeated heavyweight career now totaling 25 victories.  Mitchell earned the NABO title with the win, but his sights are set for a showdown with one of the recognized Heavyweight Champion Klitschko brothers which is probably 4 fights away.  In order to take that huge leap forward, Mitchell must learn from his numerous opening round blunders, with trainer Andre Hunter identifying the flaws for correction.  That near fatal first, could have long lasting benefits, since Mitchell didn't begin boxing until his football career ended, learning the pro game on the fly without the benefit of an amateur pedigree.  For Witherspoon (30-3 w/22 KO's) it's back to the drawing board with hopes of following instructions for trainer Virgil Hunter better next time.