Rare Photo of Al Haymon (R)
MITCHELL-BANKS DID NOT LOOK RIGHT
San Francisco, CA– Having seen and reported on the rumblings of some that the Seth Mitchell-Johnathan Banks was fixed, I thought about it a bit and realized that was probably not the case. In case you missed it, Banks knocked the then unbeaten Mitchell down three times and out in less than a pair of three-minute sessions of battle late in 2012. That setup the Saturday night rematch of which we get to shortly.
NEED TO “WATER THE PLANT” FOR YOU
Going in, everybody, or just about everybody was leaning Mitchell. Although Banks was bigger than his cruiserweight (200 lb.) days, where he had been stopped in his only prior loss by Tomasz Adamek, and his three National Golden Glove championships at 178, he was still a string bean at 218 lbs. who would on that evening stun the “establishment” and drill their coddled pretender into the canvas thrice.
MANY THOUGHT BANKS WOULD PREVAIL EASY
Now you know why Banks was being counted on by fans to once again slay the corporate giant’s dragon, while the “establishment” was willing to bet the first fight was an anomaly and that Banks could not duplicate the feat. The reasons put forth by the Banks doubters were that he, “was just a sparring partner that got lucky.” Mitchell on the other hand, unproven and thought to be glass jawed was for all intents and purposes the “establishment” guy.
JUST CAUSE BANKS FOUGHT LIKE HE WAS ON QUAALUDES
Nobody likes a good crime story better than I, but there is nothing here . Johnathan Banks has that “sparring partner” mentality, one that forbids a wanna’ be matador from finishing the injured bull. It seemed quite apparent as Mitchell was dropped in two, clipped hard in round three, and dropped again in the ninth, that Banks fought as if he were asking for “forgiveness” each time he clocked Mitchell.
PUTRID ODOR NOT OF A FISH LIKE NATURE!
With advisor/boxing Svengali Al Haymon handling both main event victors, Mitchell (29-1, 19 KOs) and new WBA 147 lb. guy Adrien Broner (27-0, 22 KOs), Paulie Malignaggi mumbled something about Haymon having “bought a judge” after losing to Broner. If you want to hold that thought for a minute and realize that to fix the Mitchell fight they would have had to “get to Banks,” which is in itself is a stretch. Now do I think that Al Hayman’s fighters get “extra consideration” at the ballot box? Yeah, that’s probably true. Do I think Al Hayman bought bribed a judge and bought off Johnathon Banks? NO! It wasn’t fish you smelled, rather boxing dung from two crappy heavyweights who “stunk” the joint out!!
Pedro Fernandez