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Sechew Powell lands on Thompson
Photo © Brendon Pierpaoli
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On Friday, despite bitter cold outside the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville Ct, the arena indoors was heating up with boxing action in a six bout card promoted by Lou DiBella’s Broadway Boxing and Showtime’s Sho-Box. The night’s main event featured what was supposed to be a step-up in competition for undefeated Chris Smith versus Chicago welterweight David Estrada, but no one bothered to tell Estrada or his trainer the great Angelo Dundee.
From the opening bell Estrada pressured Smith, attacking him with short hooks and flurries to the head and body while staying in close to his chest and keeping Smith from moving and boxing. Smith seemed surprised by Estrada’s aggression from the start but wasn’t being hurt by Estrada’s punches.
As the fight wore on, Estrada’s pressure and volume punching took its toll and when Estrada grinned at Smith at the end of the seventh it was as if he was saying: Now, you feelin’ me?
Estrada kept up his attack and at 1:11 of the eleventh round referee Steve Smoger stepped in to prevent Smith from taking further punishment. Estrada is now 18-1 (9) with the cable-TV victory and Chris Smith takes his first loss, falling to 19-1-1 (12).
In the evening’s co-feature, middleweight Sechew Powell stayed busy against Patrick Thompson. The southpaw Powell got right to work with his right jab and repeated one-twos that slammed against the face of Thompson swelling his eyes.
In the sixth, Powell tried to finish Thompson after scoring a knockdown but he ran out of time. With Thompson cut and bleeding from the right side of his face, Powell circled for the last two rounds of the bout, taking pot-shots at Thompson and then rolling safely out of range.
When the judges’ decision was announced it was unanimous for Powell with scores of 79-73, 80-71, and 80-72. Powell’s record remains unblemished at 15-0 (9) while Patrick Thompson drops to 8-4-1 (4).
In the Broadway Boxing segment of the card, the crowd was treated to seeing Emmanuel Augustus fight and a chance to enjoy one of pugilism’s artisans; few fighters are such masters of distance and the subtleties of defense. In the first round Augustus fought his way inside the long reach of Dillon Carew, chopping up at his chin with uppercuts and banging his ribs with both hands.
With lots of pressure and busy punching Augustus was able to wear Carew down and forced his corner to stop the bout after 8 rounds. Carew, who was running low on gas from round three, lost 2 points on the cards after repeatedly spitting out his mouthpiece in the eighth round. Emmanuel Augustus’ record now stands at 30-24-6 (15) while Dillon Carew drops to 15-13-3 (11).
One of the most exciting young fighters at the `04 Olympics in Athens was Haitian team member Andre Berto who on Friday was fighting for his second time as a professional in the junior middleweight division. His opponent, Joseph Benjamin, who was introduced as Spiderman, fought in a twisting-hopping-lurching style that slightly resembled the web-slinger, say if Spiderman were drunk. Although it was ugly, Benjamin’s awkward survival tactics kept him from being knocked out despite being hurt several times to the body and head by the compact and heavy-handed Berto.
Unable to score the knockout but mature enough not to make any wild mistakes in trying to finish his foe, Berto never took the pressure off and won an easy lopsided decision. Andre Berto is now 2-0 (1) and gets right back to work this Friday night at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom. Meanwhile, with the defeat, Spiderman falls to 1-7-1 (1).
In the opening bout of the night middleweight Raymond Joval made quick work of Rodrigues Moungo. From the start, Moungo was loading up, hoping to catch Joval with a counterpunch while trying to cover up under Joval’s busy offense. Joval controlled the second round with his jab and despite landing solidly in the final seconds of the round; Moungo fought much of the round while retreating.
The third round signaled the beginning of the end, as a hard right uppercut made him do a stutter step and reach out for Joval with both gloves to regain his balance. Joval smelled blood and continued flurrying, staggering Moungo again and then dropping him with a grazing overhand right. With Moungo on his back, the ringside physician rushed into the ring causing Ref Johnny Callas to call a halt to the bout at 2:22 of round 3. Later, Joval’s promoter, Lou DiBella, said the victory may help sway HBO into adding Joval to the dance card of Fernando Vargas or Ike Quartey in the upcoming months. Joval’s record improves to 33-3 (15) while Rodrigues Moungo falls to 12-8 (9).
In other action, heavyweight Cristobal Arreola won by 3rd round DQ after opponent David Cleage continued to hit on the break despite numerous warnings and the deduction of a point in round one by referee Mike Ortega. In round one, Cleage charged out of his corner like a locomotive, hooking at Arreola with both hands. What Cleage clearly lacked in skill he was trying to make up for with brute force but he was far too sloppy to be effective in little more than bloodying the nose of Arreola. Clearly outclassed in terms of skill Cleage decided to foul out rather than get stretched. David Cleage drops to 2-5-1 (1), while Arreola remains without a loss at 9-0 (8).
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© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2005
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At Ringside Alex Pierpaoli (January 25, 2005)
