Sunday Punch: The most absurd 22-second fight you’ll ever see
It’s not often you see someone fall four times in 20 seconds.
Do you like chaos? Well here’s some chaos for you from May 6th, 2005 in Connecticut.
Sechew Powell, who is the brother of former UFC fighter David Branch, took on Cornelius “K9” Bundrage on a ShoBox card at a time when both men were undefeated up-and-comers. The fight began with simultaneous knockdowns off of right hands. Somehow the referee didn’t score any knockdown and presumably thought they tripped each other. Upon the restart, Powell uncorked a straight left that put Bundrage on his back. He got up... then fell... got up again... fell again, and that was that.
22 seconds. That’s how long the fight lasted. Bundrage had no recollection of falling three times in rapid succession when he spoke with the ringside doctors. He was walking but he was also out of it.
Watch all the insanity at the top of the page. It’s like Fedor Emelianenko vs. Matt Mitrione met Zab Judah vs. Kostya Tszyu.
Bundrage (37-6-1, 21 KOs) went on season 2 of The Contender reality TV show after this fight, reaching the semifinals before losing to Steve Forbes. Improbably, he became a world champion in 2010 at 37 years old when he stopped Cory Spinks to win the IBF junior middleweight title. One of his two successful title defenses came in a unanimous decision rematch vs. Powell before he lost the belt to Ishe Smith. He became champ again in 2014 with a victory over Carlos Molina, but Jermall Charlo took his title with a quick knockout. ‘K9’ returned to the ring at 47 years old to beat a 4-25-3 opponent in November 2020, so I suppose he’s technically still active.
Powell (26-6, 15 KOs) never did become world champion and indeed the rematch loss to Bundrage was his only major world title shot. He’s long retired after a four-fight losing streak that included a TKO at the hands of Gabriel Rosado. But anyone who knows of Sechew Powell knows his win over Bundrage was one of the craziest fights imaginable.
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