By Ryan Burton

Family Arena, St. Charles, MO. - IBF junior middleweight champion Cornelius "K9" Bundrage (31-4) avenged his May 2005 defeat to Sechew Powell (26-3).  The scores were 115-113, 119-109 and 117-111. Powell won the first fight via TKO in the first round in a fight that featured a rare double knockdown.  Tempers flared at the pre-fight weigh-in for the rematch as both fighters were jawing at each other.  The fight was sloppy with a lot of holding, pushing and clinching and both fighters hardly through any jabs as they loaded up on almost all of their shots.  Bundrage landed more punches and was the aggressor while Powell landed the heavier shots as Bundrage had considerable swelling under his right eye.

 

The action started to heat up halfway through the first round as both fighters landed heavy shots.  The fight was fought at a quick pace with K9 being more of the aggressor and landing more punches throughout the early rounds.  Bundrage landed a flurry of punches in the fourth round hurting Powell.  The ref warned Bundrage for pushing Powell's head down which gave Powell a few more seconds to recover. 

 

Powell came on strong at the end of the round and landed a series of shots that hurt and staggered the former Contender Series star.  Powell landed a series of heavy shots on a visibly exhausted Bundrage to start the 7th round.  Bundrage, breathing heavily through his mouth, saw his punch output slow down as well.  Powell purposely went into the ropes in the 8th round luring Bundrage into his trap.  Bundrage landed a series of hooks and Powell's first counter punch just missed the target.  Powell later connected with two shots stunning Bundrage.  Both men traded punches at the end of the round with Powell getting the best of the exchanges.

 

Powell appeared to take the 9th round off as Bundrage won the round on effort alone.  Powell was busier in the 10th but K9 again was the aggressor, starting at the body and working his way to the head with his combinations.  Powell tried to be the aggressor in the 11th but time and time again when he would throw first, K9 would perfectly counter him.  Bundrage would receive a warning for a low blow in the middle of the round.  Bundrage finished the round off with a big flurry as the 10 second bell rang.

 

K9 closed the show like a champion by boxing and moving in and out, pot shotting his opponent and moving out of range before Powell could return fire.  The New York based Powell threw a few wild shots as the fight ended that missed badly.  Bundrage landed a series of heavy shots in the last 20 or so seconds.  At the 10 second mark Bundrage looked over to HBO announcer Roy Jones and said something like "I won, Roy!"  After the bell rang to end the fight K9 yelled something in Powell's face and the New Yorker retaliated by punching Bundrage in the face.