Ear To The Street
Sharmba Mitchell, Football Player Turned Boxer
Sharmba Mitchell was born on Thursday, August 27, 1970 in Northeast Washington D.C. at Providence Hospital. His mother Phyllis Anderson and his father Charles Dave Mitchell had no clue to the greatness their son would achieve in the world of boxing, but the world would not have to wait long before it all started to show.
Ironically, Sharmba's passion was not boxing, rather it was football. For a short period in his life, he lived in Landover Hills, MD and there he played little league football. "I didn't ever think I would box. Football was my thing, and I was good at it," recounts Sharmba.
Living with his mother and her boyfriend at the time, Sharmba and his older sister were often times unattended to because his mother suffered from drug addiction. As a result, he became self-sustaining taking the money his father would bring as child support to the People's drug store to purchase candy that he would later sell in Woodridge Elementary school to his fellow schoolmates. Click Here>>> For Tickets to Celebrity Weekend of Champion Events
As a youngster, Sharmba didn't have much of a relationship with his father, but the one thing that really stands out in his mind about his father is that one day Charles Mitchell came and picked up little Sharmba and took him for a ride which landed him at the Round 1 Boxing Club where Sharmba would meet trainer, Adrian Davis pictured below. The rest is history.
He was only 8-years-old when he went into the Round 1 Boxing Club. It didn't take long before they knew they had a phenom on their hands. After just two years of training, Sharmba won the Golden Gloves and at age 12 he won the Jr. Olympics. Sharmba would continue to win the regional Golden Gloves competitions year after year. Finally, in 1987 he went to the Golden Gloves Nationals and won there too.
Before going pro, Sharmba racked up an ultra impressive amateur career record with 157 W-6 L, 7 regional Golden Gloves, 3 ABF National Silver medal, and an Olympic Festival Bronze medal. He was the youngest boxer on his team at the Olympic Trials, and he fought Kevin Kelly losing in a decision.
All this put Sharmba on the national scene, and he never left it throughout his career. His first pro fight was against another debut boxer, Eddie Colon. Sharmba shined in his first fight with a 3rd round KO of Colon, then he went on to win his next 30 fights. One of those fights made him even more famous because a clip from the fight made the blooper reels around the world when Rafael "Bazooka" Limon pulled Sharmba Mitchell's boxers down in the middle of the fifth round.
In 1993 Mitchell got his first shot at a Title when he went up against Chad Broussard, beating him with a 1st round KO becoming the NABF Champion. Sharmba was unable to defend his title, suffering his first lose against Leavander Johnson then another lose shortly thereafter. His second lose was the most demoralizing of all Sharmba's loses according to him because, as he puts it, "I was winning the whole fight, then in the 9th round during an exchange, the ref steps in and prematurely stopped the fight. I wasn't even hurt."
It seemed that Mitchell's career was on the ropes having suffered two straight loses, holding the title for only one fight, and marring his official record with two loses by way of KO. How would Sharmba respond? Could he revive his stellar career and put it back on track towards greatness. In the next article, we'll find out in the next article.
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