Although also a title fight, this was considered just a tune-up fight for Chavez’s September fight against Hector Camacho, a fight which had been building up for a long time. Camacho, who was sitting ringside watching this fight, had also fought on the card earlier in the evening and earned a fourth round TKO of his opponent. Mitchell (29-1-0, 13 KOs), however, was upset at the fact that tickets were already on sale for that fight, presupposing a Chavez victory. He entered the ring tonight to Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up.”
THE OPPONENT – Frankie Mitchell began his pro boxing career in 1983 in Columbus, Ohio, and moved to Philadelphia a few years later. In 1990, he earned a shot a Brian Mitchell’s WBA super featherweight title but lost by a twelve-round decision, giving him his only loss before fighting Chavez. The next year, though, he came back with a second round TKO of Kenny Vice in a fight which earned him the vacant NABF lightweight title. After three successful defenses, he was ranked as the number six contender and ready to go up in weight and try for Chavez’s WBC light welterweight title. Unfortunately, after that fight, he would have only three more fights–one win over a jobber and TKO losses to contenders Levander Johnson and Kip Diggs. Mitchell retired in 1995 with a record of 30-4 (14).
ROUND ONE – Mitchell came out using his movement and warming up with a few punches but not landing any yet. A minute into the round, Chavez landed a good cross and a left hook. Mitchell met this with some shots of his own and continued moving around the ring. Chavez caught him again, though, with the cross. They clinched, and Mitchell landed a pair of hooks. Separated again, Mitchell threw and missed a lot of punches, as Chavez continually blocked or dodged them. Chavez then went in to land a left hook, but Mitchell clinched again. Coming out of the clinch, Mitchell tried boxing southpaw was a little, but continued punches forced him to clinch again, and he switched back to orthodox. At the end of the round, a left hook knocked out Mitchell’s mouthpiece, but he fought back, landing a combination to Chavez’s head.
CORNER – Chavez remained standing in between rounds; in his corner were trainer Cristobal Rosas, Rodolfo Chavez, Daniel Castro and Fernando Beltran. In Mitchell’s corner were trainer Jim Washington, cutman Stan Maliszewski and co-managers Dean Rosenberg and Bruce Gross.
ROUND TWO – The first good action of this round came when Chavez landed a hook to the body and Mitchell responded with a combo to the head. There were chants of “Chavez!” in the background, but it was Mitchell who was more active, throwing uppercuts and hooks on the inside, trying to work the body. Chavez’s face was a little reddened from Mitchell’s combos, but his defense remained skillful, and he landed a few left hooks of his own. Then a hard right cross forced Mitchell to hold again. Mitchell was warned for a punch that was a little low. He continued trying to fight on the inside, landing a lot of combos towards the end of the round. Chavez was still landing some good punches of his own, however, and got in one last cross just before the bell. (This was the one round that Guzman scored for Mitchell; Chavez won all the other rounds on the scorecards.)
ROUND THREE – Both fighters traded from the beginning of the round. Mitchell returned a left hook to his head with a combo to Chavez’s head. They worked mostly on the inside, trading a lot of hooks. Mitchell clinched again for relief from Chavez’s harder punches. He then moved around a bit and tried switching to southpaw again, but a good cross knocked him back some. Chavez followed up with hooks and an uppercut, forcing Mitchell against the ropes, but was clinched again. Chavez was more active now, though, and battered his opponent with hooks. Halfway into the round, Mitchell went down to a knee. He was up at five and then tried to keep his distance, clinching again when Chavez came in close, but he had no time to recover and went down to a knee again within the next half minute. Mitchell was able to continue, but Chavez came straight for him with a right and hooks. Mitchell punched back, landing some good hooks to Chavez’s head, but the punches he was getting hit with were too much, and he clinched again. Chavez led him back to the corner and battered on him with some powerful shots, but Mitchell took them and was still fighting back when the bell rang to end the round.
ROUND FOUR – Mitchell came out moving and defending himself with punching, doing everything he could to keep Chavez from throwing those hard punches. Anytime he saw or thought that Chavez was about to throw a punch, he got in there with a combo of his own to show Chavez that the opening wasn’t there. However, the tactic didn’t work long, as soon Chavez got in a hard right cross that sent Mitchell back halfway across the ring, into the ropes and then down onto his knees. Mitchell was back on his feet at nine but had already taken too much punishment to continue. Referee Mills Lane called a halt to the bout, giving Chavez the TKO win at 56 seconds into the round.
THE UNDERCARD – WBC Middleweight champ Julian Jackson retained his title with an unanimous decision over Thomas Tate. Simon Brown also won a decision over Anthony Ivory. Frankie Randall knocked out Refugio Guerrero in three. Hector Camacho earned a fourth round TKO over Eddie Van Kirk. Santos Cardona knocked out Carlos Silva in two.
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Venue: Hilton Hotel & Casino
Title: WBC Junior Welterweight
Scheduled: 12 Rounds
Referee: Mills Lane
Judge: Omar Minton 30-25
Judge: Angel L. Guzman 29-26
Judge: Art Lurie 30-25
Result: TKO4 0:56
Promoter: Don King
Broadcast: Showtime
Ring Announcer: Jimmy Lennon Jr.
Commentator: Steve Albert
Commentator: Bobby Czyz
Mexican National Anthem: Antonio De Jesus
USA National Anthem: Checkmate
Attendance: 9,000