Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell has been forced to pull out of a scheduled July 14 bout against Johnathon Banks as a result of an injured right hand, according to Golden Boy Promotions CEO, Richard Schaefer.

Mitchell (25-0-1, 19 knockouts) “strained his right hand and so he’s going to be out,” said Schaefer, “and the doctors’ note says that he should not return to competitive fighting any earlier than six to eight weeks.’

Mitchell was after his 11th straight knockout against Banks (28-1-1, 18 KOs) in a clash of 29-year-olds that was to appear on the undercard of a junior welterweight matchup featuring former IBF and WBA beltholder Amir Khan and newly-crowned WBC titlewinner Danny Garcia on HBO from the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.

Mitchell is coming off a third-round stoppage of Chazz Witherspoon last month, this, after having scored a second-round knockout of Timur Ibragimov in December.

Initially, Mitchell’s manager, Brother Sharif Salim, told RingTV.com that Mitchell intended to go through with the fight, chalking earlier rumors about his injury up to “some bumps and bruises from the last fight.”

“Right now, we’re preparing for July 14,” said Salim. “So until further notified, that’s what we’re preparing to do. We’re not talking about injuries or anything. The status quo remains for right now.”

Salim could not immediatey be reached for commment, but Schaefer said that has all changed.

“Seth Mitchell is out. We actually have a doctor’s report saying exactly that,” said Schaefer. “The good news is that it doesn’t look like there is anything broken, but the Seth Mitchell fight with Johnathon Banks is definitely off.”

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]