Thanks again to Luke Thomas of MMA Nation.
[ Related: Mitchell Stops Ibragimov in Two ]
Oscar De La Hoya:
"8,647 was the attendance. It goes to show you the drawing power of both fighters. Both fighters did a tremendous job, they had a wonderful night. The fans were happy, everyone was happy. The fighters just put everything on the line.
"I want to first start with talking about what I call the future of the heavyweight division. Seth Mitchell proved once again and showed to the public what he is all about. And Seth Mitchell had a tremendous night tonight. We will go back and sit down with his team and figure out, relatively quickly, what his next move. Seth told me he wants to fight right away, so, that's actually a great thing for boxing because we're desperately waiting for that next American heavyweight champion of the world. And we believe we have him in our stable at Golden Boy Promotions."
"You know, Seth has the power, speed, the charisma, and he once again proved that he is a force to be reckoned with in the heavyweight division. We are very proud of Seth, what he represents, who he is as a young man outside the ring, but inside the ring he is an animal. And we are looking forward to putting him in with the top guys, the top tens."
Seth Mitchell's comments after the jump.
Seth Mitchell:
"I prepared hard for this fight. I prepared to go a hard ten rounds. ... I feel good. I'm on cloud nine right now. I knew this was a big test. Timur, he's never been stopped. I definitely wanted to be the first time to stop him, but at the same time I wasn't gonna go out there and get reckless and open myself up. I saw that he had a game plan. He caught me with a couple of shots, but that's a part of boxing. I was able to adjust."
"We had a great game plan. Great camp. We had to alleviate Timur's right hand. That was our main objective. When I watched the tape by myself, I went back to my trainer. He said, 'What'd you see?' I said he died out in the later rounds, he's open for the uppercut. Then we watched it together, and he said, 'You can't see it. He can't get away from a right hand.' And as I was watching it with him, I saw the right hand open all day. So at training camp we worked on just finishing, definitely going to the body, finishing with the right hand. And as you saw, the end of the fight was three consecutive right hands. He couldn't get away from the right hand, and I give credit to my trainer Andre Hunter, who does a fantastic job.
"This was a big step for me. This is the level that I want to be on. I plan to stay on this level. I don't think that I can't be beat, I don't think I'm invincible at all. But I work hard. I'm humble. And I'm hungry. The Klitschkos, they stand alone in the heavyweight division. But I truly believe right now that I mix in well with any heavyweight out there. So I'm just gonna continue to work hard and try to reach my goals."
Q: Are you prepared for the Klitschkos?
"The Klitschkos don't have the most exciting fighting style, but you have to respect them. They're giants, they're 6'6", 6'7", and they use their God-given talents, they use them well. I believe that I'm about three or four more fights, and if I don't have any setbacks, hopefully in 2013, early 2013, I'll be able to challenge them, and hopefully I can get the job done. I feel I mix in with the heavyweights right now, but there's a couple of more fights that I have to win before I'm ready to challenge a Klitschko."
Q: How soon will you be back?
"Hopefully I can get in there in March. We'll sit down with the team, with my manager, with Golden Boy and Al Haymon. ... Even as a champion, I would like to be an active champion and fight at least three fights a year."
On Timur Ibragimov's pre-fight statements that Mitchell was only strong:
"I'm not a weightlifter, I'm a boxer. A lot of people, they think because I come from football, and I've said this numerous times, I believe everybody is blessed with a particular gift or a particular talent, and I truly believe athletics is my talent. This is what God has blessed me with. It's not a coincidence that I started boxing when I was 25 years old, only 10 amateur, I signed with Golden Boy, and have picked up this craft this quickly. ... Not only do I think I'm blessed with athletic ability, the size, the strength, the speed, I work extremely hard. I'm a sponge. I try to learn as much as I can. I've been sparring with Tony Thompson since I was six months into the boxing game. He's one of the top heavyweights out there. He's taught me a lot. I just feel that when I get in the ring with my opponents, I surprise them. They look at me and they see that I'm strong, but they underestimate my athletic ability and my speed and my boxing savvy. If you look at this fight, he came out, and he was trying to set up some things and I had to adjust a little bit. He caught me with the jab. It's nothing. It's a part of boxing, you get hit. You know, roll the right hand a couple of times and made him come to me, then set him up. I'm a student of the game. I just try to improve and each and every fight, and I believe that I'm doing that so far in my career."
Q: How did it feel to walk into the ring at this big of an event?
"It felt good. It sent chills through my body. I knew it was a big moment for me in my career. Fighting on HBO, fighting at home, having the home crowd. But I understand that it's a business. I understand that I'm on HBO because of what I've been doing. I had to stay grounded, stay humbled, stay focused and continue to do what I'm doing so I could be on this level again."