S.F.'s LaRon Mitchell advanced to the Olympic Trials semifinals at super heavyweightwith a 16-12 win over Dominic Breazeale on Wednesday night.
By Ryan Maquiñana
MOBILE, AL -- Four months ago, San Francisco’s LaRon Mitchell experienced a foreign feeling after facing Anaheim’s Dominic Breazeale in the California Golden Gloves super heavyweight final.
“When they raised his hand after the fight, it broke my heart,” remembered the S.F. State alum, who at the time was 9-0 as an amateur boxer after a 3-0 stint in MMA. “I like Dominic a lot, but he gave me my first legitimate loss in all of combat sports.”
Wednesday night’s rematch with Breazeale in the third round of the U.S. Olympic Trials bred a more familiar outcome, as Mitchell won 16-12 to advance to the semifinals.
“The plan was to try to land my shots and make him miss on the inside,” Mitchell shared. “I gave him a lot of movement and was too slick for him this time around.”
The 31-year-old from the Fillmore district attributed his victory to his trainer Jimmy Ford of Crocker Amazon Park’s Ring of Fire Gym.
“I have to give Jimmy all the credit,” he said. “We hit the mitts for about 45 minutes straight. He kept rushing me with a light jog, and he forced me to use my footwork to move away from him and pump my jab.”
Imagine the delight that consumed Mitchell when the extra preparation came to fruition against Breazeale.
“You couldn’t have written a better script, but what we were doing the night before actually happened in the fight. There was a point in the third round when it felt like he was coming forward, and all I could do was pump the jab. It worked to perfection. While I thought I won by a bigger margin, like I told you yesterday, Ryan, revenge is best served at the Olympic Trials.”
With only a year’s worth of boxing experience under his belt, nothing has been handed to Mitchell. On Wednesday night, he battled through a lingering right shoulder injury that forced him to pull out of the gold medal bout at the U.S. National Championships in June.
“The pain is killing me right now,” he admitted. “We were icing it right after the fight. In fact, right now I’m going to go eat and then ice it again when I get back to the hotel room.”
Mitchell forfeited a shot at a national title to save his ailing shoulder for the Olympic Trials, and right now, he seems to have made the right choice.
“It’s been well worth it,” he said. “Everyone in my camp looks like geniuses now. Who knows if I would be standing here this close to winning it all right now?”
Bum shoulder be damned, Mitchell will encounter Army Staff Sergeant Andrew Shepherd of Fort Carson, Colo., tomorrow in a virtual semifinal.
“[Shepherd] seems like a pretty good banger with fast hands,” Mitchell said. “He’s an Army guy so I know he’s going to be in good shape. He looks and fights like [former pro heavyweight contender] Ike Ibeabuchi, and I anticipate about 100 punches from him. He throws a lot of combinations, and I was surprised he beat Brett Rather easily because I thought Brett would be the one in there with me tomorrow.”
The winner earns a spot in Friday’s finals against Lenroy Thompson, with the Kansas native already owning the advantage of only needing one win for gold compared to his opponent’s two as a result of going undefeated so far in the Trials.
“It’s going to be tough if I make it, but I can worry about Lenroy on Friday because if I don’t stay focused on Shepherd, I’ll be packing my bags and sitting there watching the finals,” Mitchell stated.
Mitchell isn’t the only Bay Area boxer still dancing. Earlier this morning, San Jose’s Eros Correa upset top seed Louie Byrd 25-25 (132-131 tiebreaker) to advance to Friday’s light flyweight finals.
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