Gabriel Rosado, the current USA Pennsylvania State light middleweight champion, will take on Sechew Powell, the former International Boxing Association Intercontinental light middleweight champion, in a 12-round title bout to be held on June 1, 2012.
The duo will headline the pay-per-view jointly organised and promoted by J Russell Peltz of Peltz Boxing Promotions Incorporation and Kathy Duva of Main Events and will have the vacant WBO Intercontinental light middleweight title up for grabs.
The showdown will be co-headlined by another 12-round bout between Ronald Cruz and Prenice Brewer for the vacant WBC Continental Americas welterweight title. Gabriel recently took part in a press conference and shared his thoughts about upcoming opponent Powell.
Gabriel, 26, has been in a total 24 bouts and emerged victorious in 19. The Philadelphian proud has nailed 11 of his opponents by knockout and since his last loss to Derek Ennis is on a five-bout win streak.
Rosado has evolved into a fine pugilist and has sharpened his skills substantially with the passage of time. His opponent, Powell, 32, has a bit upper hand as far as the experience is concerned.
Powell has been in a total 30 bouts and boasts 26 wins. The southpaw Sechew has nailed 15 of his opponents by knockout and is going through a bit tough phase of his career as he has collected two consecutive losses in his last two bouts.
As far as the technicalities are concerned, Powell still has a bit upper hand as he has a better knockout and win ratio. The only facet that might help Gabriel in pinning Powell is his height.
Gabriel is much longer in height which gives him a substantial reach advantage eventually enabling him to throw his jabs from a considerable safe distance. At the same time, Powell possesses an upper hand as he is a southpaw whereas Rosado follows an orthodox stance.
During the media interaction, Gabriel shared his excitement and stated, “At first I wasn’t crazy about fighting a lefty, but the junior middleweight division is full of them so it all turned out for the better. I’m talking about Paul Williams, James Kirkland, Erislandy Lara. These are guys I need to get in there with so fighting Sechew Powell is another step down that road.
Rosado, also known as the ‘King’, further added, “I know a lot of people are skeptical, saying that the last guy I beat (Jesus Soto-Karass) was made to order for me. We’ll see if they were right or wrong after June 1.”
It must be noted that Rosado was originally scheduled to take on Joel Julio but due to his unavailability, Powell was signed for the title bout. Gabriel is currently undergoing a strenuous training session at world’s renowned trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym.