Mayweather Wins at Welterweight

PORTLAND, OR - Speed kills and the extra weight made no difference.

Displaying the hand speed and superior defense that are his trademarks, Floyd Mayweather Jr. rolled to a decisive victory in his welterweight debut Saturday night, stopping Sharmba Mitchell in the sixth round at the Rose Garden.

Mayweather ended the non-title bout with a straight right hand to Mitchell's body. Referee Richard Steele counted to nine before waiving and stopping the fight with Mitchell sitting on the ropes in pain.

Mitchell seemed to complain that the punch was low, but replays showed it was above the belt. After the fight, Mitchell said he actually complained that the fight was stopped.

With the win, Mayweather confirmed his claim to be the best fighter in any weight class and the world's pound-for-pound champion.

"I was a little anxious," Mayweather said. "I wanted to outperform the Gatti performance - that's a flawless performance. It's hard to beat that."

Undefeated in 35 fights, Mayweather, who has won belts at three lower weight classes, was in control from the start, landing straight right hands with ease. He absorbed some blows from the 35-year-old Mitchell, but nothing serious. Mitchell is a former 140-pound champion who was making his second appearance as a welterweight.

Mayweather won every round of the judges' scorecards, landing 85 punches to Mitchell's 31. Sixty-five of his punches were power shots. The knockout was the 24th of his career.

"They say I can't punch," Mayweather said. "But 24 out of 35 - I must be getting them out of there."

Mitchell was active in the first round, but the southpaw's jab couldn't penetrate Mayweather's defense. Toward the end of the round, Mayweather combined a hard right with a left hook that had Mitchell grasping for his opponent's waist.

Mayweather used a sneaky straight right to send Mitchell sprawling to the canvas in the third. He kept the pressure on in the fourth, teeing off on Mitchell, who late in the round had his elbows pressed to his ribs and his hands in front of his face to block a flurry of blows.

Mayweather, the WBC champion at 140 pounds, said he decided to fight Mitchell after potential bouts with a host of bigger-name fighters couldn't be negotiated. The WBC 140-pound champion could return to that weight to face IBF champion Ricky Hatton, or he could stay at 147 and challenge welterweight champion Zab Judah. He could also press for lucrative fights against former champions Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley.

He said he'd even go up to 154 to face Winky Wright.

"It don't really matter. You can go to any weight class if you've got skills."

Mitchell fell to 56-5. All of his losses have come to fighters who were or were to become champions. Knocked out in two of his last three matches, this might have been Mitchell's last major fight. Kostya Tszyu dispatched him in the third round last November.

Mitchell connected on only seven of his 144 jabs, and his shifty movement couldn't keep him from Mayweather's power. He said he plans to keep fighting.

"I want to get to 60 wins, that's four more," he said.

Sonny Banerjee
Editor-in-chief

Information from other publications and wire services was used in the compilation of this report.