DiBella: "Sharmba is a chicken!"

Sharmba Mitchell has pulled out of a bout against Joshua Clottey that was scheduled for the Mike Tyson undercard in Washington D.C. on June 11, 2005. "Josh had already signed to fight Sharmba, but now I have been told that Sharmba wont sign the bout agreement," said Lou DiBella, Clottey's promoter. "I think this is about the quality of his opposition and Sharmba is chicken."  Mitchell will remain on the card, making his  welterweight debut against an opponent to be decided shortly.  Clottey is rated #30 in the Boxingtalk ratings.  However, he is 26-1 and his only loss was by disqualification to Carlos Baldomir in 1999. If, as DiBella maintains, that the disqualification was unmerited and that Clottey was on his way to a victory in that bout, then Clottey belongs at least in the top 15. Only yesterday, Clottey was interviewed on this site and promised to defeat Mitchell, saying, "I am pretty sure I will knock him out. He's coming up now to 147 pounds, so I have the power and energy more than him."  Mitchell, whose last bout was a loss to world junior welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu, is a former world titlist and is currently rated #8 at 140 pounds by Boxingtalk