The bullet passed through his right wrist, but the slug missed arteries, bones and nerves and Green was fighting again a few weeks later.
The second time he sustained a graze wound, when a slug slashed the right side of his head, leaving a short, puffy scar.
He suffered a decisive cut loss in the 1978 tournament, preventing him from winning a fifth Golden Gloves title.
Mitch lost against Russian boxing great Igor Vysotsky in a 1978 matchup, and was considered a prospect for the 1980 Olympic Games (held in Moscow), but the U.S. boycotted the event, and Green also lost to Marvis Frazier in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Trials that year.
[7] In the beginning of 1980 he went to Tennessee, where he sparred with WBA world heavyweight champion John Tate, and Washington D.C., where he trained with Dave Jacobs, Sugar Ray Leonard's trainer.
[1] Green turned pro in 1980, signing a contract with the rock promoter Shelly Finkel, whom he met at the 1979 New York Golden Gloves.
As a professional, Green was one of NBC's "Tomorrow's Champions" (a group of Finkel's young pros, which also included Alex Ramos, Tony Ayala Jr., Donald Curry and Johnny Bumphus)[8] and was ranked as high as #7 by the World Boxing Council, and also in the top ten by the World Boxing Association.
[9] Mitch was undefeated in his first sixteen bouts, which included a 1983 points win over the rugged Floyd "Jumbo" Cummings, and a draw with trial horse Robert Evans.
His first loss was a twelve-round decision to future WBC champ Trevor Berbick in a bid for the United States Boxing Association title on August 10, 1985.
After a comeback win over Percell Davis he lost a ten-round decision to Mike Tyson in 1986 on HBO, in his most famous fight.
He threatened to pull out of the contest, finally settling for being released from his managerial contract with King's stepson Carl in return for his short purse.
[12] Green was later signed to face James “Bonecrusher” Smith on December 12, 1986 as part of a Don King-produced event for HBO from Madison Square Garden.
After Tubbs pulled out of the contest with a reported injury, Witherspoon instead gave Smith, whom he had beaten in a twelve-round decision in 1985 to earn the shot at Tubbs, a rematch with the title on the line; Green was left off of the event, as a result, since a replacement opponent was not found.
Again complaining about his purse and his new manager, Green refused to throw any punches and argued constantly with the referee, until the exasperated ref stopped the bizarre contest in the third.
[15] Throughout the 1990s, Green sporadically came out of retirement, most notably in bids for the New York State heavyweight title, against fringe contenders Melvin Foster in 1994 and Brian Nix in 1998.
A December 1995 contest with Shannon Briggs fell apart when Green was arrested for smashing up his manager's office during a dispute.
Later, although a New York jury awarded Green $45,000 in damages in a civil lawsuit against Tyson, the sum did not cover the legal fees.