When Sechew Powell (25-2, 15 KO's) and Deandre Latimore (20-2, 16 KO's) first met in June of 2008, Powell was in line to get his first world title shot. Powell was rated #1 by the IBF and had the home-field advantage coming into the fight. But Powell's journey to his first world title shot came to a crashing halt as the younger Latimore scored a major upset, stopping Powell in the 7th round at the Hard Rock Times Square in New York City. It was an outcome that very few observers saw coming. But the victory against Powell managed to thrust Latimore in the spotlight where he got the opportunity to square-off against Cory Spinks for the vacant IBF belt the following year. 

Even in hindsight, it is still surprising that Latimore was able to pull off the upset against Powell. After all, it appeared Latimore did not have many advantages to speak of. One particular observation is that Latimore did not have the same kind of experience as Powell. In his one lone loss (at the time), Powell went the distance with the rugged Kassim Ouma, and this was before Ouma headed into his downward spiral. In his next fight, he bounced right back and scored a unanimous decision over Ishe Smith. If you watch as much boxing as I do, you will know that Smith isn't exactly the easiest guy to hit. Powell also has a handful of victories over Contender participants, including Grady Brewer and Cornelius Bundrage. It is of note that  Powell/Bundrage scored one of the most rarest occurrences in boxing, a DOUBLE KNOCKDOWN!). I know some people will not consider this top notch opposition, but it is definitely much more than one can say about Latimore's opposition.

In essence, Deandre Latimore basically came out of nowhere. In his native Missouri, he was seen as a highly regarded prospect at the onset of his his  career. He was knocking out opponents at will. But then along came Ian Gardner, which also happened to be Latimore's first step-up in competition. To the surprise of a majority of the hometown crowd, Gardner scored a minor upset and stopped Latimore in the 3rd round. Now this particular fight, really, was not much of an upset to those outside of Missouri. As previously mentioned, this was Latimore's first step-up in competition. In addition, this was Latimore's first fight EVER going against an opponent with a winning record. The quality of his opposition, even after his loss, was not much to speak of. What makes all this relevant is that the aforementioned series of events in Latimore's case happened just only the previous year when Latimore and Powell first met. This did not happen years and years before their first meeting. This was at the time, very recent memory. So when Latimore managed to stop Powell in their first meeting, it was quite a bit of a shock to some that saw Latimore as nothing more than a stay-busy opponent.  

Its was Sechew Powell that was supposed to meet Cory Spinks for the IBF strap. Powell now has another shot to make a title fight happen. Sechew Powell will again meet up with Deandre Latimore at the Choctaw Casino Event Center in Durant, Oklahoma on March 19th, live on ESPN2 (10pm EST). The winner of this fight will face the winner of the Cory Spinks/ Cornelius Bundrage fight (Powell already has a first round KO victory over Bundrage). However, it has been reported that Don King and ESPN have had some contract disputes and the entire Spinks/Bundrage card has been cancelled and will be rescheduled. Nonetheless, a victory for Powell will bring him one step closer to that elusive world title strap.
 

My prediction:

I realize that some boxers, such as Deandre Latimore, improve and learn on-the-job as they progress through their career. But despite their first meeting, Sechew Powell is still a seasoned pro. I think Powell just simply underestimated Latimore's power, and took some unnecessary shots in order to get in some of his own. This was a good learning experience for Powell, who I believe will be smarter about it this time around.

Sechew Powell, by Unanimous Decision.