Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that Heavyweight’s Seth Mitchell and Chazz Witherspoon will open up the HBO telecast on April 28th before Bernard Hopkins rematches Chad Dawson in Atlantic City.
“It’s a good solid fight and a good step up for Seth,” Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com after finalizing the bout with HBO on Monday. “It’s a fight that makes sense for Seth and for Chazz Witherspoon.
“We’ve agreed to the fight and I just got the contract today, so I’ll go over it and, assuming everything is in order, we have a fight,” said Xavier James, Witherspoon’s attorney and former HBO Sports executive. “Chazz knows he has to win in order to take that next step in his career.”
“It is a fight that just makes sense,” Schaefer said. “It’s the perfect addition to this card because both of them can have their fans at the fight.”
“We finally got it made. (Witherspoon) came to terms and it’s one of the fights we’ve been going after,” said Mitchell’s manager Sharif Salim said. “Chazz is from Philly, Seth is from the D.C. area. I know we have busloads of people looking forward to going up for the fight. We thought this was the most exciting fight we could make right now for where Seth is in his career.”
“I’m very excited about the fight. We’ve been trying to get this fight for a while,” said Mitchell, adding that he has been in the gym but will get down to serious training this week. “I’m excited that Chazz took the opportunity. It’s gonna be a good fight. We’re comparable in our experience, height, weight. He has a recognizable name. I’m really looking forward to the challenge. He has a good jab and good tools, but I believe I will be victorious.”
“Chazz Witherspoon can move, he has tremendous boxing pedigree, the guy can fight and he has a very good record,” Salim said. “We knew HBO would approve him and, hey, I also like the human interest side of this fight. These are two guys who are smart guys, both college graduates.”
“That’s the plan but everything is contingent on me taking care of business,” Mitchell said. “I’m looking forward to fighting at least three times this year, hopefully four, but April 28 is the first business I have to take care of.”
Said Salim: “Seth has tremendous work ethic and is really coming along. He just needs the rounds and the experience. But I really believe that it won’t be too long until he is ready for one of those big fights. We have to focus on Witherspoon first. Witherspoon is a good fighter. You won’t hear us saying anything bad about Chazz Witherspoon.”
