A 7-time Ontario Golden Gloves champ, Pinky also dealt with the notoriety that came with being the brother of Stopwatch Gang's Paddy Mitchell.
“He taught us all to live life with enthusiasm and gratitude.” He was also a regular at the “celebrity table” that Sam Koffman maintained at his Belle Claire Hotel on Queen Street in the 1960s and early 70s. Mitchell would later recount the fight on the dinner circuit: “I heard he was dumb, so the plan was I’d tell him his shoelace was untied, and when he looked down, I’d pop him. Durelle won the five-round bout on points with each man scoring a knockdown. Mitchell earned lasting fame for his exploits in the boxing ring. Everything was frozen,” he said. Mitchell became a heavy equipment operator and was shipped to the Yukon where he drove a truck, supplying northern airfields. One of his best friends was a hardscrabble boy named Ray Sally, who credited Mitchell with setting him on the straight and narrow. Pinky Mitchell was born into the Depression and grew up in what was then known as Stovepipe Village, today’s Little Italy. “He was very quick of mind and hand,” said former Ottawa Citizen city columnist Dave Brown, 85, a longtime friend and drinking companion. Another brother, Bobby, was also regularly in trouble with the law. Pinky Mitchell became one of the finest boxers to ever emerge from Ottawa: He was a seven-time Ontario Golden Gloves champion and the 1953 Canadian amateur middleweight champion.