Devon Alexander Continues to Evolve
Last Saturday evening, HBO Boxing presented what they thought would be the coronation of Boxing’s next great superstar, Devon Alexander(21-0, 13 KO), the IBF/WBC junior welterweight champion of the world. Alexander was facing the former world junior welterweight champion, Andriy Kotelnik (31-4-1, 13 KO). Alexander won the fight by unanimous decision, all three judges scoring for him by identical scores of 116-112. The fight was much closer than the scores indicate. Alexander was supposed to have an easy time of it with this supposed career stepping stone he was fighting. The only problem with that scenario was evidently somebody from HBO forgot to mention to Kotelnik that he was supposed to be an easy mark for their budding superstar. Alexander’s lightning quick hand and foot speed were supposed to help him easily dominate Kotelnik. It didn’t play out that way. Kotlnik was able to expertly time Alexander’s jab throughout the fight. Kotelnik landed 4 and 5 punch combinations seemingly at will by out-thinking Alexander throughout the fight.
Sure, Devon Alexander was the aggressor throughout the fight and landed many shots of his own. The fight was simply not as one-sided for Alexander as HBO shill Harold Lederman made it out to be. Lederman repeatedly slagged Kotelnik for throwing one punch at a time as Kotelnik was firing off and landing multiple punch combinations. Devon Alexander took a lot more head shots than he should have if he had kept the fight a boxing match rather than a slugfest. Keeping the fight on the outside and making it a test of skills plays to Alexander’s natural advantages in hand and foot speed. Although after the fight Alexander called out Timothy Bradley, the WBO junior welter champion (he even held up a handmade sign with Bradley’s name on it), he is fooling himself if he thinks he is ready for that big a step up. Amir Khan, the WBA junior welter king, would be out of the question for the time being as a future opponent for Alexander, especially since he had such an easy time of it soundly defeating Kotelnik by unanimous decision on July 18th, 2009 in Manchester, England. Khan has improved rapidly under the tutelage of boxing genius Freddie Roach.
There is no doubt in my mind that Devon Alexander has the potential to be a great and dominating champion. He just needs a little more time. Maybe another 3 or 4 fights against good opponents who will take him the distance and force him to use his vast array of skills. He needs to learn how to make split second adjustments in the ring if the fight is not going his way as planned. Andre Dirrell learned that after his defeat by Carl Froch in the Super Middle tournament. What’s the rush? HBO’s has liked him for a long time but their love affair with him is really based on the Juan Urango fight, which Alexander won by a spectacular knockout, in round 8 on March 6th, 2010. However, one must take into consideration that Urango was perfectly suited for a guy with the style of a Devon Alexander. Colombian born Urango is flat-footed, with little hand speed and almost no upper body or head movement. He was essentially target practice for a speedy guy like Alexander. Devon Alexander will one day soon burst through the door of greatness. Right now, he is still parking his car in the driveway.
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