Yesterday at the legendary Gallagher's Steak House in Midtown Manhattan, Lou DiBella and friends hosted a press conference for Broadway Boxing's 5th monthly show scheduled for September 30th in the Grand Ballroom at the Manhattan Center.  The card will be headlined by hot jr. middleweight prospect, Sechew 'Iron Horse' Powell 13-0(9) vs. the rugged George 'The Rooster' Armenta 12-3(10).  Brooklyn, NY native Powell will be facing an opponent who earlier this year knocked out former Olympian, Dante Craig in the fourth round, and in 2002 lost a very close majority decision to another Brooklyn prospect, Yuri Foreman.  Powell will no doubt be looking to impress since his disappointing performance against Grady Brewer back in June when he got up from a 5th round knockdown to eke out a controversial eight round split decision. The card will also feature bouts showcasing the talents of other young prospects including jr. welterweight, Edgar Santana 11-2(7), lightweight Koba Gogoladze 15-0(7), cruiserweight, Ehinomen 'Hino' Enikhamenor 7-0(4) and super middleweight, Jaidon Codrington 2-0(2).
 
These official unionized matches will be presented under the auspices of the Joint Association of Boxers (JAB), an affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.  With JAB head and former light heavyweight champion, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad on hand, the new boxing union was put in the spotlight.  Lou Dibella opened up with an impassionate speech about the current inequities of the boxing world.  In one particularly animated attack against ESPN's new practice of underpaying, DiBella declared, "Right now ESPN boxing is off for the entire fall.  Well here's what I say, unless they're going to show respect for the sport, respect for the fighters who fight, respect for the people involved, don't come back, we don't need you, because right now you are hurting the sport of boxing!  If there was a union I don't believe that ESPN could get away with what is happening."
 
Muhammad followed with an equally colorful diatribe and bluntly
stated, "We are getting f'ed in this game.  We'll stand up to anybody.  I don't care who it is."
 
During the conference Boxingtalk got a chance to speak with the
headliner, Sechew Powell.  Here's what he had to say:
 
AL:  Tell me a bit about what happened in the Brewer fight.
 
SP:  What happened was I got dropped in the 5th round but before that I was dominating the fight and after that I won the other two rounds.  Probably the only rounds I lost were the round I got dropped in and the eighth round. It was a win for me, not quite the win I was looking for but life goes on, I learn from it and I'm on to the next.
 
AL:  What about Brewer gave you so much trouble?
 
SP:  His awkward style.  I didn't anticipate him being as awkward as he was. He was just very unorthodox and hard to read, but you get those sometimes and that fight made me a better fighter.
 
AL:  Did the shot that put you down catch you off guard or were you really hurt?
 
SP:  It caught me off guard.  You know I had my hands down on the inside and it caught me off guard.  It was a shot that I did not see.  But I got back up, fought like a champ and won the fight.
 
AL:  How did it feel to get up from a knockdown for the first time in your career?
 
SP:  It was no big deal, because those things are expected in the
sport. You know the greatest fighters deal with adversity in the ring and that's what its all about.  I know that I have a job to do and I had to get up and win that fight and that's what I did.
 
AL:  Any chance of you giving him a rematch?
 
SP:  Yes, there's a huge chance of him getting a rematch, maybe not so soon, maybe soon.  You can't count that one out.  Right now I'm not looking past George.
 
AL:  What do you know about Armenta?
 
SP:  I know that he's a tough fighter whose been improving each time out. His confidence level should be very high so I'm expecting him to very sharp and strong.
 
AL:  What is your one-year plan?
 
SP:  At the end of one year I want to be making a serious approach to the top ten.
 
AL:  Any names you're looking at?
 
SP:  Every name is a name to me because there's only room for one in this sport and everyone else is the enemy.
 
Boxingtalk was also able to get a comment from heavyweight contender, Monte Barrett, who was attending the conference in support of JAB.  When asked about whom his December opponent would be, Barrett responded, "The Klitschko people are running from me and they're chasing Danny Williams so it looks like I may fight James Toney in December instead of Vitali, but we'll see. I start training camp on September 20th and who ever I fight I'm just looking to bring home that world title."

CLICK HERE MORE OF THIS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Send questions and comments to: machinelevine@yahoo.com