Alabama's Mitchell Puts Title on the Line; No. 1 Heavyweight Contender Ruiz Also Set to Fight on Dec. 11 Card.

TUNICA, Miss.--(BW SportsWire)--Dec. 1, 1999--

Don King Productions Card to be Held at

Grand Hotel in Tunica, Miss.

Making his first defense of the WBA super middleweight title he captured in June, Byron Mitchell (20-0, 16 KOs) from Ozark, Ala., will take on European champion and mandatory challenger Bruno Girard (36-2, 5 KOs) on a Don King Productions card at the Grand Hotel in Tunica, Miss., Saturday, Dec. 11.

The co-feature includes a battle of top 10 rated heavyweights as WBC No. 1 challenger John Ruiz (35-3, 26 KOs) clashes with WBA/NA eighth-ranked Jade "The Jewel" Scott (25-3, 20 KOs) for Ruiz' WBA North American crown. Both fights will be shown on Showtime at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT.

Two other world title bouts on the card will pit IBF bantamweight title holder Tim Austin (19-0-1, 18 KOs) against mandatory contender Bernardo Mendoza (50-7, 28 KOs) and exciting WBO junior welterweight champion Randall Bailey (19-0, 19 KOs) versus Hector Lopez (39-6-1, 21 KOs).

Tickets priced at $50, $35 and $20 can be purchased through Ticketmaster in Memphis at 901/525-1515.

Mitchell, 26, waged a see-saw battle against then-super middleweight champion Frankie Liles on June 12. Rallying from behind, Mitchell thumped Liles in the 11th round, sending the champion spinning to the canvas three times before the referee waved off the bout on a technical knockout. It was Mitchell's first championship bout and came three years after he turned pro.

Girard hails from Blois, France and first burst on the scene in 1996 when he beat Jean Tsidjo to capture the French title. He went on to defend it successfully four times before stepping up and seizing the European 168-pound championship in April. He outpointed Russian Andrei Schkalikov and then repelled German Jurgen Hartenstein two months later in a title defense.

Ruiz has his sights set on a mandatory fight against recently crowned undisputed world champion Lennox Lewis, but will need to fend off a resurgent Jade Scott first. Ruiz last fought near his hometown of Metheun, Mass., and sent the crowd home happy with a sound triumph over Fernely Feliz on June 12. Whacking Feliz around the ring, Ruiz finished the job against his overmatched opponent in the seventh, winning by TKO. The 27-year-old Ruiz is riding a five-fight winning streak, which included a fourth-round stoppage of Jerry Ballard to win the WBA North American title.

Scott is a formidible challenger to Ruiz. Possessing good size and explosive power, Scott hasn't fought in a year, but brings plenty of experience. He knocked out 12 of his first 14 opponents after turning pro in 1989. The 31-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y., was outpointed by Melvin Foster last December, but previous to that setback, he kayoed three of four opponents and took a decision from highly-respected Mike Dixon.

Austin has defended his bantamweight crown three times, including a convincing knockout of Mexican Sergio Aguila on March 27 in Miami. Austin, 28, from Cincinnati, survived a surprising flash knockdown in the Aguila fight before turning on the firepower and pelting the challenger with thudding combinations. The southpaw won the 118-pound title in 1997 in an eighth-round TKO over Mbulelo Botile.

Mendoza has fought outside his home country of Chile just four times and will make only his second appearance in the U.S. His first trip ended in disappointment in 1996 when Wilfredo Vazquez stopped him in the fifth in a WBA super bantamweight title bout. Mendoza has been the long-reigning Chilean champion, first winning the title in 1987 and re-claiming the crown four more times between 1988 and 1996. He fought twice in 1998, securing his 28th knockout against Joel Garcia on Oct. 9 in his last encounter.

Knockout specialist Bailey makes his first defense of the WBO championship he took from Carlos "Bollilo" Gonzalez on May 15. In one of the most devastating knockouts ever witnessed, Bailey clubbed the champion with a left hook that landed flush and sent Gonzalez sprawling to the canvas just 41 seconds into the contest. As Gonzalez rolled over on the mat, Bailey began celebrating before a small, but raucous crowd of hometown supporters at the Miami Jai Alai.

Lopez is a savvy veteran from Mexico who is the former NABF and NABO champion. He's come up short in two world championship bids, but brings heady knockout credentials himself, having stopped his last three opponents.