Mitchell Defends WBA Title With Open-Scoring Decision

Sharmba Mitchell retained his World Boxing Association super-lightweight title Saturday night at the MCI Center in Washington with a decision over Reggie Green in a bout influenced by open scoring.

Because scores were given on a round-by-round basis, it was apparent that only a knockout in the 12th round would prevent Mitchell from successfully defending his title for a third time.

“I played it safe at the end, even though he was punching hard,” Mitchell said.

Helped by a knockdown in the first round, the only one in the fight, Mitchell took a seemingly insurmountable lead into the final round.

“I knew I had to knock him out at the end,” Green said.

Mitchell won, 116-111, and, 115-113, on two cards. A third judge scored it, 114-114.

Mitchell (45-2) floored the challenger in the opening three minutes, and the ring announcer told the MCI Center crowd before the second round that the champion had a 10-8 lead on all three cards.

“I knew he was going to come back,” Mitchell said.

It marked the first time since the 1980s that fans at a major boxing match could monitor the scoring after each round.

Green (30-3) rebounded to make a fight of it, but won only rounds 4 and 7 on all three cards.

Two other title fights on the card had a different version of open scoring, providing scores after every four rounds.

In the first fight, Mark Johnson claimed the vacant International Boxing Federation junior bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Ratanachai Vorapin of Thailand.

Keith Holmes didn’t leave it in the hands of the judges.

Holmes reclaimed the World Boxing Council middleweight title by stopping Hacine Cherifi at 2:13 of the seventh round.

In that fight, things went without a hitch after round 4 when the crowd and a national television audience were told the score.

There was no need to total the scores a second time after Holmes landed a barrage of punches that caused referee Frank Capuccino to stop the fight.

Seconds before the start of the fifth round, the ringside announcer told the crowd that the judges had Holmes, of Washington, ahead on two of three cards. After learning that “Judge C” had Cherifi ahead, 39-37, many in the partisan crowd booed.

Cherifi (26-3-1) sustained a cut over his right eye in the second round and failed to defend the title he won from Holmes in May 1998. Holmes (33-2) had held the belt since March 1996.

In the first fight, soon after the boxers began trading blows in the fifth round the ring announcer told the audience: “Judge A has it 40 to 36, Judge B has it 40 to 36 and Judge C has it 40 to 35, all in favor of Mark ‘Too Sharp’ Johnson.”

The crowd cheered the announcement, which left no doubt that the hometown favorite held a decided advantage.

After learning he had a large lead after eight rounds, Johnson lost a point the ninth round for a low blow.

But he already had the fight in hand.

“I knew open scoring was going to hurt,” Johnson said. “Once you know you’re winning, you might get a little sloppy.”

The ring announcement of the final score--118-109, 117-110 and 116-110--was a mere formality.

*

In an ealier bout that did not employ open scoring, Christy Martin stopped Jovett Jackson at 36 seconds of the first round.

Martin, the WBC pound-for-pound champion, floored Jackson within the opening 15 seconds and finished her off by landing five straight punches.