Ringside Report Looks Back at Samson Po’uha

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By Daniel Sisneros

Utah’s Samson Po’uha was a well respected amateur who earned both the 1991 National Golden Gloves Title, and the 1992 AAU Title in the Super Heavyweight division.

The Tongan KO artist turned pro on Nov. 25, 1992, with a first round knockout of Steve Cortez on the undercard of the Orlin Norris/David Sewell NABF Cruiserweight Title fight. He then went on a tear stopping 12 straight opponents with only 3 of them making it past the 2nd round.

His first loss came against IBO/WBF Heavyweight Title challenger Craig Payne. Samson was stopped in the 6th round. He then scored 3 more first round knockouts with respected Journeyman Martin Foster among those victims.

He took his 15-1, 15 ko record into the big showdown fight televised on USA Netowork, against fellow hot prospect, undefeated Andrew Golota (23-0, 20 ko’s). It was a wild affair which included a desperately hurt Golota biting the neck of Po’uha to survive. The tactic worked and earned Golota enough time to clear his head, and go on to stop Po’uha in round 5. Golota would later admit that he was hurt, and had never been hit that hard in his life.

Po’uha got back on track with 4 victories including a hotly contested split decision victory against former USBA Light Heavyweight Champion Frankie Swindell, and a 4th round tko of former NABF Heavyweight Champion “Smoking” Bert Cooper. Po’uha would get a rematch with Frankie Swindell which ended in a draw.

Even though he was world ranked, and a fan favorite, Samson was never given a title shot. He fought his last fight nearly a decade after turning pro, on April 21 of 2002. He lost a majority decision on scores of 91-99 & 93-97, with 1 judge seeing it even at 95-95 to World Ranked Sherman Williams (19-6-1, 13 ko).

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