Chazz Witherspoon knocks out Haggler, Eric Mitchell wins the IBC Lt. Middleweight title

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On February 15, 2008, new promoters came to a new town as Big Box Promotions collaborated with Fighting City Productions for a night of professional boxing at The Commerce Bank Arts Center in Sewell NJ. The build-up to this night was originally surrounded around four rising undefeated fighters with a main event for the vacant IBC Light Middleweight title. As fight night came closer, there were dramatic changes to the line-up with many boxers whose names appeared on the promotional poster ended up not fighting. The most notable subtraction was Derek Ennis who was scratched at the last minute after failing to reach the 154 pound weight limit on the eve of the fight, leaving the entire card in limbo. With less than a day to go, Eric "Murder" Mitchell, a 38 year old Philly native with a rep for being as "real" outside of the ring as he is inside of it. Mitchell who was in the midst of an 18 month layoff took the assignment on less than a full days notice, grit his teeth and got the job done preventing a potentially disastrous situation to cap off a solid night of fights in the Garden State. In the co-feature, "The Gentleman" Chazz Witherspoon looked to continue his ascension towards the world heavyweight rankings, this time against which on paper, appeared to be his toughest test to date as a professional in South Carolina's Jonathan Haggler. This one had an interesting start and ended with a loud which put the crowd on its feet. In "the womens division" Karemah Thomas and Jennifer Mollister finally had their chance to get it in as they nearly came to blows at the initial press conference a few weeks back. Filling out the card were rookies Jesus Barbosa who left his opponent Melvin McGuire looking for a new line of work in a pro debut that went horribly wrong. In the opener, Victor Venezuela of Passaic, NJ made his pro debut after an extensive amateur career which included over 300 fights, his opponent was Felix Arroyo of Philly who though only 2 fights into a career has seen and bounced back from boxing controversy. Scroll down to get the full report.


Light Middleweight Division

Eric Mitchell...vs...Edwin Vasquez
20-4, 10ko's.........22-11-2, 8ko's
Philly...............Puerto Rico

In the main event, Eric "Murder" Mitchell, one half of one of the most successful brother tandems in the history of Philly boxing, returned to the ring after 18 months of inactivity to take on Edwin Vasquez, a limited yet legitimately tough customer who has fought some of the best in the world for the vacant IBC Light Middleweight title.

Though Mitchell has been out of the public eye for some time, his skills are still regarded very highly by many who are familiar with his work. The main question surrounding this fight was "which Eric Mitchell is going to show up?" Would it be the one who in 2004 knocked out recent IBF Super Middleweight champ Alejandro Berrio in the 1st round, or the one who followed up that fight with a sluggish unanimous decision loss to Ricardo Mayorga?

On this night we saw an Eric Mitchell who fought with a lot of heart and determination. Though he was admittedly rusty, especially in the early going, he refused to back down from the fight and took everything Vasquez had to offer, most of the time responding with cleaner, harder punches to the head and body.

It was slow paced and even through two rounds but Mitchell seemed to get his ring legs back in the third where he landed his best punch of the night, a left uppercut which cleaned Vasquez clock and sent him stumbling backwards. Mitchell tried to follow up with another heavy right but Vasquez sensed danger and responded with two low blows, the second earned him a point deduction which proved to be fatal on the official scorecards. Mitchell smelled blood and landed another big shot, this time an overhand right as the bell sounded which put Vasquez on rubber legs.

Round 5 was probably the best round of the fight where both men decided to stand in front of each other and trade short rights and lefts up top at close range. This was the theme of the round until the end where Vasquez changed up and began to slip in hard body shots as Mitchell continued to swing for the fences upstairs.

Rounds 6 & 7 were pretty close and had lots of clinching but the 8th round was when Mitchell really dug deep. It started with both men trading single rights to the face as the circled each other. Mitchell put a quick move on Vasquez and landed a hard two punch combo which again stunned his opponent. Unfortunately, the right upstairs knocked out Vasquez mouthpiece which gave the Puerto Rico native a much needed rest. During the break, his brother Aaron screamed out "DO IT, DO IT!" Eric obliged with yet another murderous overhand right which knocked Vasquez silly. Mitchell tried to follow up with another big right but missed, allowing Vasquez to tie up and save himself from a visit to the canvas.

Though he seemed to be hurt at the end of the 8th, Vasquez did more over a slow final two rounds as Mitchell conserved energy to ensure he made it to the final bell.

The fight went to the scorecards and they read 95 - 94 twice and 97- 92 in favor of Eric "Murder" Mitchell to cap off a true workman like performance.

After the fight, I caught up with Mitchell for a few minutes and when asked about his inactivity, he said "I have been staying busy in the gym over this time sparring with Bernard Hopkins". When asked if there was any ring rust he said " I started to get back into things around the 3rd round but my timing was off a bit. I was able to see the openings but a couple times I was a split second too late". Aaron Mitchell also stated that "We are back now, expect to see a whole lot more of us".


Heavyweight Action

Chazz Witherspoon...vs....Jonathan Haggler
New Jersey................South Carolina
21-0, 14ko's..............18 - 1, 13ko's

In the co-feature, "The Gentleman" Chazz Witherspoon withstood an early barrage to score a 4th round knockout over a big, husky southpaw Jonathan Haggler.

As we have seen plenty of times in the past, Chazz used the first couple of rounds to feel out his opponent and find openings that would serve him well later on in the fight.

Though Chazz seemed to be seeing what his opponent had in the arsenal, he did pay a price getting tagged with some hard left hands thrown by Haggler. In the process, Chazz showed a pretty good chin by taking these punches clean and not budging too far. Haggler was winning the fight at this point but it was obvious he was starting to get tired, breathing heavily through his mouth.

The tide turned in the 3rd where Witherspoon put a critical beat down on Haggler in what could arguably be a 10 - 8 round dispute no knockdown. From the start of the round, Chazz went from hesitant to very aggressive, bullying the bigger man into the ropes and firing off hard combinations which typically ended with a hard right to the face. Midway through the round, another 3 punch combo on the ropes sent Haggler sprawling around the ring, looking done. Though Haggler was seriously hurt, he was still dangerous and threw some left handed bombs from weird angles in a desperate attempt to stop Witherspoon's charge. He needed a miracle to survive and it came in the form of the sound of the bell which ended the round.

The bell only delayed the obvious as Witherspoon continued his assault as Haggler threw more wild bombs, one of which landed flush. It wasn't enough as Witherspoon continued, this time with a four punch combo that knocked Haggler to the canvas. To Haggler's credit, he got to his feet and referee Steve Smoger gave him every opportunity to land another miracle left but it was just not meant to be. At 2:44 of the round Smoger finally saw enough and put an end to the contest.

After the fight I had a chance to speak with Witherspoon who, when asked about the early rounds said "I know I have a full tank of gas, why go to war with the guy when I know I can strategically chop him down?" "I took some punches tonight, a few more than I would have liked to but I did what I set out to accomplish and that was get the win". When asked to grade his performance he humbly gave himself a C and also mentioned a possibly April fight on either Shobox or ESPN.

Lightweight Division

Jesus Barbosa...vs...Melvin McGuire
Philly...............Deptford, NJ
1-0-1, 1ko...........Pro Debut

Jesus Barbosa was explosive in this fight as he used a crushing body attack to chop down Melvin McGuire who was making his pro debut. Just after the opening bell sounded, Barbosa went hard to the body ala Miguel Cotto. The first two knockdowns came by crushing right hooks to the ribs. To McGuire's credit, he picked himself up off the canvas twice but a third right hook, this time to the ear left him down and out at 2:10 of the 1st round.

After the fight I had a chance to speak with Barbosa. When asked if he looked to make a statement like this after coming off a draw in his last fight he said "I talk about this fight with my team and we came prepared for a 4 round fight. I had the opportunity for the knockout and I took it but we always come to prepared to go the entire way".

Lightweight Division

Victor Venezuela...vs...Felix Arroyo
Pasiac, NJ............Philly
pro debut.............1-1

In the opener, Victor Venezula showed an explosive left that he was very well schooled and owns an explosive left hand. In the early rounds he has Arroyo in big trouble, landing hard left hooks to the head almost at will. In the final minute of the opening round, Valenzuela landed another hard left hook which put Arroyo down to the canvas. Arroyo, sucked it up, rose to his feet and managed to escape the round without any further punishment.

The second was another strong round for Valenzuela and it looked like it was going to end early as the Passaic native continued to land that hard left hook. Arroyo was shaken but not completely out of it and continued to try his best.

The tide turned in the third as Valenzuela seemed to take most of this round off but still scored with a jab and occasional right. Arroyo started to come on strong near the end and landed a nice left hook of his own before the bell sounded.

Arroyo knew he was behind and decided to go to war in the 4th, staying in Valenzuela's chest and throwing punches with everything he had behind them. Valuenzuela's left which was powerful early had lost some steam and couldn't keep a tired Arroyo off of him. Arroyo gave it his best but it wasn;t enough as the final bell sounded.

It went to the cards and they read 40 - 35 & 39 - 35 twice in favor of Victor Valenzuela who wins his 1st professional fight.

I had a chance to speak with Valenzuela after the fight, when asked about this match he said "I am glad to be turning pro after about 300 amateur fights. I knew I was hurting him early, but I'll give him credit, he is a tough kid"

Jennifer Mollister...vs...Karemah Thomas
New Jersey................Philly
pro debut.................Pro Debut

Karemah Thomas won a unanimous decision over a willing to fight Jennifer Mollister in their four round female battle. Mollister wanted to brawl from the beginning but Thomas settled down after the 1st and used a jab and occasional straight right hand while circling her incoming opponent to earn the victory by scores of 40 - 36 & 39 - 37 x2

Mollister showed that she isn't afraid take a shot to give on in return, a little more side to side movement would help. Thomas showed the ability to adapt.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions you can email Philly Keith at keith@phillykeith.com

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