Professional Boxer Mitch Prince lives in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire; however, in stark contrast he was born in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa where he used to watch the big fights on the telly with his dad when he was just a kid, his father was friends with a South African Professional Boxing Champion so Mitch was familiar with the sport from a very young age.
Tragedy struck when his father sadly passed away at a relatively young age of 39 due to a sudden heart attack, “I was traumatized but I think I had it the easiest because my siblings were teenagers”, Mitch said with sincerity, and went on to say, “It affected me badly, I missed a lot of school and ended up being held back a year”. Mitch was only 8 years old when this heartbreaking misfortune happened, he was the youngest of the family by seven years, his family were very tight knit but it never took the pain away because he was so close to his dad.
At 10 years old Mitch told me he had a cousin who used to take him to a boxing club in Johannesburg and he was enjoying it until they put him in with the local champion, “He leathered me, so the next time my cousin came to pick me up I hid under the bed”, he said, this was his way of discouraging his cousin coming to pick him up. Most young boys will never return to a boxing ring when this happens – but not Mitch. Due to circumstances he moved over to Scotland with his mother when he was 13 and there was still two weeks left on the school curriculum of first year at high school, he was offered the choice to stay at home and start a fresh in 2nd year but decided to attend school so he could make new friends. Mitch has a friendly outgoing personality, this attribute instantaneously made him very popular and he bonded with the bigger crowd. He went along with a group of friends to local boxing club Broadwood in Cumbernauld at 14, “I took to it straight away”. Mitch tried a lot of sports including gymnastics but boxing was the one he fell in love with and at 15 he got his first fight at a home show where he slipped and fell on his way to the ring but managed to stop his opponent in the 1st round, “It was nerve wrecking”.
Mitch would look up to guys in the boxing club who were fighting for amateur titles, “Funnily enough, it was good to meet Ken Buchanan who was friendly with my old coaches Davie McGuire and Kenny Loan”, he continued to say, “I stayed with Broadwood my whole amateur career”. Mitch fought 66 times as an amateur travelling the world boxing for Scotland picking up Gold Medals in Multi-Nation Tournaments in places like Almeria, Spain and as far away as Darwin in Australia, he also picked up Silver Medals and Bronze. His success in International Tournaments secured him his place in Scotland’s Commonwealth Games Team where he returned to Australia to compete in 2006, “I was training up to 4 times a day, I was boxing a good Australian then realised I was using the wrong style and it was too late to pull the score back, it was an excellent learning experience, the best in my life so far”. This was to be the last time Mitch laced his glove’s up as an amateur so I asked him to sum up his experience, “My family were very supportive, mum used to go ballistic watching my fights. Representing Scotland was more than I could ever imagine doing as an amateur but taking part in the Commonwealth Games was a magnificent experience”.
It was in 2006 Mitch decided his style of boxing was more suited to the professional game and he turned pro with Glasgow manager and promoter Tommy Gilmour, he moved to Forgewood Boxing Club in Motherwell and got off to a flyer with 4 straight wins over six rounds before the festive period had arrived. Thus heralded the beginning of a long period of time when he fell in and out of love with boxing, sometimes only fighting once a year. He even changed his name by deed pole to Prince of Passion, it began as a laugh with his mate but he now had a cash line card that read the aforementioned name. Mitch admits he didn’t train properly and took fights at the last minute but he was still unbeaten and near the end of 2009 he won the British Masters Light-Welterweight Title. Mitch incurred his only loss to date in 2010 in a Scottish Area Lightweight Title fight that he took without enough notice to properly prepare, “It was a scrappy fight where I received stitches to the back of my head”, Mitch lost on points. It was not long after this fight that Mitch’s trainer Archie McKay sadly passed away at the age of 52, this was devastatingly heartbreaking to everyone that knew Archie and a massive loss to Scottish Boxing. Mitch began an 8 month stretch of semi- retirement, “Archie was a great coach and I could not go back to the gym because there was an awkward eerie silence, it was not the same”.
Jim Love took over as head coach at Foregewood and he was instrumental in reviving Mitch’s passion for the sport and he got back to winning ways that lead to him going on to lift the vacant British Masters Title against Bermondsey boxer Ideh Ochuko, incidentally, this was Jim’s first title success as a pro trainer, “Jim got me working harder than ever, we had trained for ten rounds and I was happy to win on points”. He has come straight off the back of a 1st round stoppage against Bulgarian Radoslav Mitev and looked very comfortable in doing so that in the ring after the referee intervened he stood on his head while balancing himself with his hands after a wee dance round the ring, that has earned him the right to fight for the Light-Welterweight Championship of the Commonwealth against Champion Willie Limond on Friday 7th June at Bellahouston Leisure Centre in Glasgow. I spoke to Mitch about this, “I am buzzing, jumping out my skin with excitement. I am one of the friendliest guys you will ever come across outside the ring; I drastically change once I’m inside the ropes where I get my fighting head on and keep my eyes on the target. Willie is standing in front of me and many titles to come”. Mitch has known about this fight for 10 weeks, he trains three time a day and spars with the likes of Barry Morrison, Barry Craig, John Simpson, Paul Burns and Craig Docherty.
Mitch was informed about his shot at the Commonwealth Title around the same time as he got engaged to his lovely girlfriend Caroline Rock, she’s a diamond. Since he met Caroline he dropped the name Price of Passion and reverted back to his original so as to avoid the eventuality of his good lady being called Caroline Passion. His favourite movie is Pulp Fiction because it’s got a bit of everything in it, “It’s Crazy, hard to describe, funny, sad and twisted”. He can’t see past the Raging Bull in boxing films and his favourite Rocky movie is Rocky III “There’s some good characters and epic fights”. Mitch is very level headed and draws inspiration from local Scottish boxers Barry Morrison, John Simpson and Ricky Burns because they bring different aspects to the game; his all-time favourite boxer is Diego Corrales, “He was tall, rangy and powerful, he was able to live a normal life outside of boxing, a warrior who didn’t back down from no-one”.
Back to the job in hand, Mitch has no sponsorship but would be very interested to hear from anyone willing to help out; he has been given leave of absence as a joiner by Lovell Homes so he can prepare for the fight of his life. Mitch told me that his trainer Jim Love has been a godsend, he has got him 100% fit and is ready to go 14 rounds if required, “I’m young and hungry for success, this will be an epic fight that no-one will want to miss, it will be a belter”.
Mitch has risen like a phoenix and showed strength of character time and time again, he is physically and mentally prepared to overcome any obstacle that stands between him and his quest to endeavour success.
Mitch is a pure entertainer and if you would like to see him in action please contact him to get your ticket on 07912 963761
Alternatively, you can call the St Andrews Sporting Club 0141 810 5700
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