Mitchell Wins Bantamweight Title With Split Decision Over Canizales

Kenny (Machine Gun) Mitchell upset Jose (Gaby) Canizales Friday night to win the U.S. Boxing Assn. bantamweight title.

Canizales (39-5) from Laredo, Tex., won the title from Louis Curtis in November at Atlantic City, N.J. Mitchell was ranked seventh by the USBA coming into the fight.

Mitchell (16-7-3) recorded a split decision, winning on two cards, 114-111 and 114-113, while one judge gave Canizales a 114-112 edge.

Mitchell, 117, from Brooklyn, N.Y., appeared to gain confidence after the early rounds.

“I found out he couldn’t punch when he hit me with a body punch, and it didn’t hurt me in the first round,” Mitchell said. “I knew then I could outbox him.”

Mitchell credited his conditioning with giving him the edge. “I trained three months. I was 100% in shape,” Mitchell said. “I was doing 500 pushups and 500 situps every day. This is the best shape I’ve ever been in.

“I was scoring mostly with the jab,” the right-handed Mitchell added.

Canizales, 117, disagreed with the decision and complained about Mitchell’s tactics.

“It was all head butts from the first round on. There were probably 30 head butts,” Canizales said. Mitchell was penalized a point in the 8th and 12th rounds for butting.