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Undefeated Prospects Sharif
Bogere &
Seth Mitchell Headline Tonight’s ShoBox
By Robert Jones
This Friday, Sharif Bogere and Seth Mitchell look to take
the next step in their young careers in arguably their
toughest fights to date. Showtime television will be
broadcasting the action live on ShoBox: The New Generation,
live from Buffalo Bill’s Star of the Desert Arena in Primm,
Nevada. The 22-year-old Bogere (19-0 12 KO’s) will be hoping
to pick-up his first title belt when he faces Raymundo
Beltran (24-4 16 KO’s) for the vacant WBO NABO lightweight
championship. Mitchell (21-0-1 15 KO’s), 28, just three
years into his professional career, takes on hard-hitting
Evans Quinn (20-5-1 18 KO’s) with the thought of getting one
step closer to a big fight.
The Ugandan born Bogere was a five-time African amateur
champion before starting his professional career at 19. So
far, so good, as there hasn’t been so much as a blemish in
his record, as he has gone undefeated over the first three
years in his career. The only thing you can question about
Bogere’s early beginning is the level of his completion,
which has been sub-par, at best. However, he has done
exactly what a young prospect should be doing when facing
this competition early in his career – hardly losing a
round, and collecting 12 knockouts in the process.
Raymundo Beltran should provide the toughest fight to date
for the young Bogere. Beltran may have four losses on his
ledger, but two of those losses came nearly 10 years ago
when Beltran was new to the fight game (split decision loss
in 1999, and TKO loss in 2001). Since then Beltran is a
respectable 19-2, with one of those two losses coming by
split decision. Just two fights ago Beltran had his best
win, stopping David Torres (then 21-1) in the 7th round.
Bogere will certainly be the favorite, but Torres is
certainly a live dog heading into their main event match on
Friday’s edition of ShoBox.
The televised co-feature will feature undefeated heavyweight
Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell. Mitchell, unlike Bogere who had an
extensive amateur career, didn’t start his professional
career until he was 25-years-old. The former Michigan State
linebacker instead has had to use most of his early
professional career to learn the ropes, in an attempt to
make up for lost time. In just three years, Mitchell has
amassed 22 career fights, with having just one blemish, a
draw, in just his third outing.
Lately Mitchell has been garnering attention, not just
because he is slowly but surely climbing the heavyweight
rankings, but also because he is an American heavyweight. A
successful American heavyweight is a rare thing these days,
but Mitchell knows with a few more wins he can secure his
dream of earning a heavyweight championship bout, and in the
process get his chance to revitalize the USA heavyweight
scene. Hoping to put that dream to sleep is Nicaraguan born
Evans “The Sandman” Quinn.
Quinn has lost five times, including three times in his last
five fights, but has been in with stiffer competition than
Mitchell, and has for the most part, shown a good account of
himself. While Mitchell’s toughest opponent came in the form
of Taurus Sykes, Evans has been in the ring with former
world title challenge Kali Meehan (UD loss in September of
2010) and former world champion Siarhei Liakovich (KO loss
in 9 rounds in May of 2010, a fight he was winning until the
7th round). Mitchell has passed his tests early on, but one
thing that hasn’t been tested yet is his chin. Quinn
certainly will not mind being the one giving Mitchell that
test Friday, as 18 of his 20 wins have came by way of
knockout.
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