Sharmba David Mitchell ( ; born August 27, 1970) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2006. He held the WBA light welterweight title from 1998 to 2001, and the IBF interim light welterweight title in 2004.

Professional career Mitchell began his professional boxing career on September 23, 1988, knocking out Eddie Colón in three rounds at Atlantic City, New Jersey.

He had a mark of 14 wins and no losses with seven knockouts - including victories over former Olympic Games bronze medalist Aristides Acevedo and over Dana Roston - when he met a former or future world champion for the first time inside a ring. On March 8, 1990, he beat the famed former world champion Rafael Limón in Atlantic City by an eight-round unanimous decision.

Mitchell kept on winning, running his record up to 27-0 with sixteen knockouts, including a victory against former world title challenger Miguel Santana. He then fought former world champion Rocky Lockridge on April 22, 1992, winning a ten-round unanimous decision.

Mitchell had recorded a 31-0 record until he lost two fights in a row to begin 1994: one against future world champion Leavander Johnson in eight rounds, then to future two-time world lightweight champion Stevie Johnston in nine rounds. He did not lose another fight in the next seven years.

After six more wins in a row, including one over future world champion Terron Millett, Mitchell fought for the WBC continental Americas light welterweight title in Dallas, Texas on April 11, 1996. He won the title by knocking out Gilberto Floes in the second round.

On May 10, 1997, Mitchell defeated Jose Rafael Barboza by a twelve-round decision in Miami, Florida to win the WBA's Fedelatin belt in the same weight division. After two more victories, he got his first chance at winning a world title.

WBA light welterweight champion On October 10, 1998, he beat Moroccan Khalid Rahilou by a twelve-round unanimous decision in Paris, France, becoming the WBA light welterweight champion.

Mitchell retained his world title four times, his last successful defense being against Puerto Rican Felix Flores on September 16, 2000, at Las Vegas. Mitchell was dropped in the first round, but he recovered and edged the challenger by two scores of 116-111 and one of 116-113.

First fight with Tszyu After that fight, demand rose for a unification title bout between Mitchell and Kostya Tszyu of Australia, the WBC light welterweight champion.

The highly anticipated match took place in Las Vegas on February 3, 2001. The outcome was controversial, as Mitchell broke his knee early in the fight and he could not continue after round seven. Although Mitchell was not knocked out in a conventional way, this nevertheless counted as a knockout loss in his record.

Mitchell then fought eight bouts, winning each of them, including victories over former world champion Vince Phillips and winning the IBF super lightweight title against Lovemore N'Dou in Atlantic City New Jersey. Defending that title ounce in Manchester England. He also beat and became and the first person to have knocked down Ben Tackie.

Rematch with Tszyu

Negotiations for a rematch with Tszyu had been taking place long before the fights with the aforementioned rivals. Tszyu, however, had his own health problems, and the fight kept being cancelled. First scheduled for Australia and then for Moscow, the rematch finally took place on November 6, 2004, in Phoenix, Arizona. Mitchell was floored four times in the second bout with Tszyu before being stopped in round three, losing by knockout.

Losses to Mayweather and Williams

On November 19, 2005, Mitchell was defeated by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their 147-lbs. non-title bout in Portland, Oregon. Mayweather dropped Mitchell in the third round with a straight right hand to the head, and again dropped him in the sixth with a hook to the body, ending the fight. During his most recent bout - against Paul Williams in Reno, Nevada, on August 19, 2006 - Mitchell was knocked down in the third round, and three times in the fourth round. Referee Richard Steele stopped the bout at 2:57 when Mitchell arose wobbly from the final knockdown. Mitchell retired for good shortly thereafter.

Mitchell finished his professional boxing career of 57 wins and 6 losses, with 30 knockout wins.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes63Loss57–6Paul WilliamsKO4 (12), Aug 19, 200662Win57–5Jose Luis CruzUD10May 3, 200661Loss56–5Floyd Mayweather Jr.TKO6 (12), Nov 19, 200560Win56–4Chris Smith5 (12), Jun 11, 200559Loss55–4Kostya TszyuTKO3 (12), Nov 6, 200458Win55–3Moises PedrozaKO2 (10), Aug 7, 200457Win54–3Michael StewartUD12Apr 3, 200456Win53–3Lovemore N'douUD12Feb 7, 200455Win52–3Ben TackieUD12May 17, 200354Win51–3Carlos VilchesTKO4 (12), Jan 25, 200353Win50–3Vince PhillipsMD10Nov 9, 200252Win49–3Frank HoughtalingUD10Jul 2, 200251Win48–3Bernard HarrisUD10Mar 28, 200250Loss47–3Kostya TszyuRTD7 (12), Feb 3, 200149Win47–2Felix FloresUD12Sep 16, 200048Win46–2Elio OrtizUD12Nov 13, 199947Win45–2Reggie Green12Apr 24, 199946Win44–2Pedro SaizUD12Feb 6, 199945Win43–2Khalid RahilouUD12Oct 10, 199844Win42–2Bobby ElkinsTKO1 (10), Feb 21, 199843Win41–2Dezi FordKO5Jul 15, 199742Win40–2Jose Rafael BarbozaPTS12May 10, 199741Win39–2John StewartKO1Oct 19, 199640Win38–2Gilberto FloresKO2 (12), Apr 11, 199639Win37–2Harold BennettTKO1 (8), Feb 10, 199638Win36–2Allen OsborneTKO2Dec 7, 199537Win35–2James GatlinTKO5Nov 21, 199536Win34–2Terron MillettTKO1 (8), Sep 16, 199535Win33–2Wayne BoudreauxTKO5Mar 23, 199534Win32–2Lyndon WalkerKO2Oct 22, 199433Loss31–2Stevie JohnstonTKO9 (10), Jun 21, 199432Loss31–1Leavander JohnsonKO8 (12), Mar 18, 199431Win31–0Chad BroussardTKO1 (12), Nov 6, 199330Win30–0Kenny BaysmoreKO1 (10), May 22, 199329Win29–0Eric WhitfieldTKO2 (10), Nov 29, 199228Win28–0Rocky LockridgeUD10Apr 22, 199227Win27–0Gilberto FloresTKO5 (10), Feb 15, 199226Win26–0Leo MartinezTKO1Jan 14, 199225Win25–0Keeley ThompsonTKO10 (12), Oct 29, 199124Win24–0Miguel SantanaTKO3Jul 23, 199123Win23–0Darryl RichardsonKO2 (10), Apr 10, 199122Win22–0Felix GonzalesTKO5 (10), Mar 19, 199121Win21–0Kevin MarstonUD10Jan 16, 199120Win20–0Robert ByrdRTD7 (10), Nov 1, 199019Win19–0Rodney FennellPTS6Sep 7, 199018Win18–0Freddie SevillaTKO5 (10)Jul 20, 199017Win17–0Eric PodolakTKO5 (10)Jul 3, 199016Win16–0Nigel WentonUD8Apr 29, 199015Win15–0Billy YoungUD10Apr 3, 199014Win14–0Rafael LimónUD8Mar 3, 199013Win13–0Bobby BrewerUD8Feb 1, 199012Win12–0Dana RostonTKO1 (8), Jan 11, 199011Win11–0Joseph AlexanderUD8Nov 16, 198910Win10–0Juan TorresTKO3Oct 26, 19899Win9–0Aristides AcevedoUD8Sep 21, 19898Win8–0Perry McQueen1Aug 16, 19897Win7–0Javier Chavez2 (4), May 23, 19896Win6–0Verrol Liverpool6Apr 27, 19895Win5–0Thomas BakerUD6Mar 23, 19894Win4–0Craig WillsUD4Jan 15, 19893Win3–0Willie Rivera4Nov 22, 19882Win2–0Randy KearseTKO2Oct 11, 19881Win1–0Eddie Colon3Sep 23, 1988

Awards 2011: Washington D.C. Lifetime Achievement Award 2012: Maryland Sports Hall of Fame inductee

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