Powell vs. Rosado Now the Headline Bout on NBC Sports Fight Night June 1st
Number 7 ranked Junior Middleweight Gabriel Rosado of Philadelphia will take on Number 9 contender Sechew Powell of Brooklyn, NY (26-4, 15 KO’s) on Friday, June 1st in the main event on NBC Sports Network’s Fight Night boxing series, live from the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, PA. The 12 round fight will be for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Title. The NBC Sports Network telecast beings at 9PM ET.
The sturdy southpaw will replace ailing Joel Julio, who has withdrawn from the fight.
Currently in camp with slugger Delvin Rodriguez to prepare him for his upcoming Junior Middleweight title challenge of WBA Junior Middleweight king, Austin Trout, the talented Powell, ranked #9 by the IBF, will be well prepared to present a formidable challenge to Rosado, who had not been preparing to face a southpaw.
“I’m happy to get this opportunity. My passion to become champion is stronger than ever and that will show on June 1,” Powell said. Gabriel Rosado and I are both top ten ranked contenders, after this fight one of us will be moving up the rankings and it won’t be him.”
Powell holds a first round TKO win over current IBF Junior Middleweight Champion Cornelius Bundrage. He also holds a win over Deandre Latimore, the Floyd Mayweather, Jr. protégé who takes on Carlos Quintana on the PPV undercard of the Mayweather-Cotto fight tomorrow night.
He has also defeated slick southpaw Ishe Smith, who faces Rosado victim Ayi Bruce tonight at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. In his most recent bouts, Powell dropped two hotly contested 12-round decisions. The first was a re-match with Brundage for his IBF title and the most recent was versus current #1 Junior Middleweight contender Cory Spinks.
Rosado said, “I was looking forward to fighting Julio because I know he comes to fight. With Powell, it’s a different story. He’s a lefty and he presents other problems for me, he’s tricky, awkward and defensive. He picks his spots and gives you angles.”
“This is a classic crossroads fight,” said co-promoter, J Russell Peltz. “This is a tougher fight for Rosado than Julio would have been. After all, Rosado has not been sparring with southpaws. Powell is a solid junior middleweight who has far more experience against top ranked contenders in the division and Powell couldn’t find a better sparring partner than Rodriquez to prepare him for a fight with Gabe. A win here, on the other hand, will launch Rosado right to the top of the division.”
The co-feature, also scheduled for 12 rounds, features unbeaten Ronald Cruz, of Bethlehem, against unbeaten, Prenice Brewer, of Cleveland, OH, for the vacant WBC Continental Americas welterweight title. Cruz is 16-0, 12 K0s; Brewer is 16-1-1, 6 K0s.
Five additional bouts complete the card.
