Forgotten Warriors: Daniel Seda

[BoztheMadman]

Daniel Seda was a world class featherweight and later super featherweight contender who fought for the WBA feather title once, but the fight ended prematurely because of a headbutt. Seda was a hard-hitting and rather clever fighter who was also tough and never got stopped, only losing twice on points in 24 pro fights, one of those losses came against Joel Casamayor. He was responsible for retirement of Nana Yaw Konadu by stopping him late in the fight in 2001. Due to his career never taking off properly and not getting enough big fights, Seda was destined to be forgotten by the boxing fans and historians. 

Daniel Luis Seda was born 5 June 1976 in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico. He stands 5'7 1/2 (171 cm), although he was curiously listed as 5'5 (165 cm) before his fight with Casamayor. As amateur, he competed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, but went out in the first round, losing to Somluck Kamsing on points. He then turned pro at the end of the same year, 13 December. He fought mostly at 126 but sometimes at 130. He went 14-0 with 12 ko's before fighting his first significant opponent in Oscar Leon, a promising fighter from Colombia who would be plagued with bad luck in many of his fights. Also here it didn't get better, in the fight which was for the vacant WBA Fedelatin featherweight title, as Leon was ahead after 7 rounds when Seda opened a cut near his left eye which then brought forth a stoppage and a TKO-victory for Seda. One judge had Leon ahead by a point and the other two by three points. 

In his next fight, Seda took on the former WBO bantam and super bantam champion, his countryman Daniel Jimenez, who was coming off a corner retirement loss to Juan Manuel Marquez. The fight was for the WBO NABO feather title and it took place in Ponce, Puerto Rico, 11 November 2000. Seda triumphed and stopped Jimenez by TKO 9, proving that he was ready for bigger fights. Next year on 12 May, he took on the former WBC super flyweight and bantamweight champion Nana Yaw Konadu in a fight for the WBA Fedelatin title and once again won by TKO 9 against the 37-year old from Ghana. After beating Roger Medal in a non-title fight by SD 10, he faced the WBA champion Derrick "Smoke" Gainer, at Roberto Clemente Stadium in Carolina, PR, 24 August 2002. Seda hadn't fought for almost a year and he was dropped in the first round, before a head clash in round two gave Gainer a bad cut and the fight was stopped after 2 minutes and 13 seconds. The result was therefore a technical draw. 

After that disappointment, Seda entered the super featherweight division. After winning two easier fights, he was then matched against the former WBA champion Joel Casamayor, on 3 July 2004 in Miami. It was an unforgettable fight as the slicker Casamayor dominated in the first four rounds and then early in the fifth he sent Seda down with a series of lefts and rights. Seda got up and then sometime midway thru the round, he first threw a left jab and then a straight right which put Casamayor down, for only the third time in his career. That would however remain his greatest achievement in this fight and even though he was competitive for the rest of the fight, Casamayor dominated the five last rounds with his superior boxing skills. Seda was also cut over the right eye by a headbutt, accidental or not, in round four. This loss marked the beginning of a downward trajectory for Seda, who was unable to get any more bigger fights after that.

He was again inactive for a year before fighting against the 14-7 Silverio Ortiz at 135 and surprisingly dropping a rather close UD 10 to him. It was clear he was now a washed up fighter and after winning one more fight by TKO 8 against Jefferson Auraad Rodriguez in 2006, he called it quits. He was not yet 30 at the time of his last fight, which was on 24 February. His record is 21 wins with 17 ko's, with 2 losses and 1 technical draw. 

Daniel Seda was a quality fighter but since he wasn't based in the States, it was more difficult for him to get big fights and he was you can say discriminated against because of that by the American boxing establishment. It would go several years after his retirement before non-American based fighters would start getting treated better in that respect. He fought two of the elite level fighters of that time and also got to stop two former world champions. Today he is simply not talked about much, which is why he is a FORGOTTEN WARRIOR!