Powell Draws Difficult Assignment.
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Undefeated light middleweight prospect Sechew Powell headlines DiBella Entertainment’s fight card from New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom tomorrow night when he faces battle hardened former WBA champion Santiago Samaniego over the course of ten scheduled rounds. Powell, a twenty-six-year-old |
southpaw from Brooklyn, has never faced anyone as remotely experienced as Samaniego, the forty-nine bout veteran from Panama, but “Iron Horse” will certainly have the momentum going into this contest on the strength of sixteen straight victories since turning professional in August of 2002. Samaniego must prove that his recent spate of bad luck was just that and not evidence of a once top of the line operator now plying his trade with diminished skills. Whatever happens once the bell rings, Powell vs. Samaniego looks like a guaranteed barnstormer for as long as it lasts and a great way to cap off what looks to be an entertaining fight card.
Sechew Powell, 16-0 (10), has been brought along nicely during in his career to date, with the Brooklyn man’s skills and confidence blossoming as a result. Fed a steady diet of journeymen chiefly from the Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic states, the applecart was almost upset in June of last year when the deceptively dangerous Grady Brewer fought Powell in Laughlin, Nevada. Although Brewer came into that bout with only a 17-8 (11) mark, the spoiler from Lawton, Oklahoma had largely only been beaten by quality fighters and was only two fights removed from a shocking third round stoppage of one of the top prospects in the country, the previously undefeated Anthony Thompson.
True to form, Brewer came to fight and had Powell down on the canvas in the fifth round. The New Yorker proved unable to solve the very awkward and cagey Brewer’s style and the bout went the eight round distance. When the judge’s scorecards came, Powell was most fortunate to get the wafer thin split decision that had the hard luck Brewer nearly in tears. Using the difficult contest as a learning experience, Powell ran off three more victories including his most recent outing, a devastating one round knockout of previously undefeated Detroit man Cornelius Bundrage.
On paper, this fight with Samaniego, 36-9-1 (29), looks like career suicide for Powell. The native of Panama (and nephew of all time great Roberto Duran) is a recent WBA champion at light middleweight and also has held various regional titles at 154-pounds and welterweight. The resident of Miami holds wins over Maselino Masoe, Hector Quiroz, Mamadou Thiam and Jason Papillon (in an extremely close battle) while dropping competitive contests to the likes of Vernon Forrest, Santos Cardona and Kofi Jantuah, among others.
It’s only in the last two years that cracks began to appear in Samaniego’s impressive facade. The Panamanian’s big break came in March of 2003 when he went to war with hammer fisted Mexican Alejandro Garcia for the WBA light middleweight crown. Unfortunately for Samaniego, Garcia could really punch and proved it by finishing Santiago in the third round. Next, Samaniego ended up out-fought by slick southpaw Rhoshii Wells during the course of a ninth round technical decision loss.
These losses weren’t by any means smoking guns that certified Samaniego’s lack of credibility as a high-level fighter but his next bout just might have been overriding evidence. In June, a thirty-four-year-old Minnesota journeyman named Troy Lowry was soundly out-boxing Samaniego when the Midwesterner suffered a bad cut and the fight stopped. The scorecards revealed Lowry was the winner of a wide points technical decision.
Is Samaniego finished as a serious threat in the light middleweight division or did he just have a streak of bad luck? This bout with Powell should provide conclusive evidence. If Samaniego still has “it,” the New Yorker could be in deep water but if the Panamanian’s performance trend continues on its downward spiral, Sechew Powell may yet have another early knockout to savor.
Contact Curtis McCormick at thomaspointrd@aol.com