By: Sean Crose
There’ll be a fight card this Friday at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. New York’s Steven Galeano will be on the card, putting his undefeated record on the line against Marquis Hawthorne in a scheduled six rounder in the welterweight division. Galeano, whose record stands at 7-0, is developing a reputation as a knockout artist, for only one of the 22-year old’s fights have gone the distance. Trained by the respected Jose Guzman, Galeano clearly wants to keep impressing. First, however, he’ll have to get past Hawthorne.
“My opponent is extremely experienced and durable,” Galeano says. “He isn’t stopped on a regular basis and has been in with one undefeated prospect after another. He has upset many upcoming prospects and is known as a veteran spoiler at 140 and 147 pounds. He even has two regional belts at 147 pounds in fights he came in as the underdog.”
Galeano, though, is nothing if not determined to rise through the ranks of the sport. In fact, he recently helped the one and only Vasyl Lomachenko as the Ukrainian prepared to face Masayoshi Nakatani. Galeano’s own last fight was a third round knockout over Hugo Padilla this past April. “I want to fight two more fights (this year)!” he says of his future after the Hawthorne fight on Friday. “I believe two fights would be good as I steadily increase my level of competition.” Galeano also wants to increase the scheduled rounds of his fights. “I look forward to potentially moving up to eight rounds this year, as well,” he tells me, “a goal I believe is more than possible.”
Galeano is nothing if not an interesting study. The City College of New York grad (he studied Public Relations and Journalism) is tough as nails in the ring, but is an easy man to speak with. He’s also an excellent writer – as readers of Boxing Insider, who Galeano writes for, can tell. Yet Galeano is so passionate about boxing, one might think it’s in his DNA. “I’ve been boxing on and off since I was about eight years old,” he’s said. “Around 13 years old, I began to take the sport seriously. That’s when I really began fighting at a furious pace.” The man is certainly continuing to take the sport seriously, fighting on a regular basis and keeping a realistic eye on matters.
“You get blinded and think you’re going to knock everybody out,” he once said to me of new fighters with power. “Not everyone is going to go down. You’re going to have to earn it.” If the opportunity arises this Friday night, however, fans can be guaranteed, Galeano will be looking to place another knockout win on his resume.