Devon Alexander remained undefeated as he escaped with a questionable unanimous decision victory against former WBA 140 Lbs Champ Andriy Kotelnik of Ukraine. Alexander was the busier fighter but it was clearly Kotelnik who came in with the finer and cleaner shots. The hometown boy may have thrown more punches but most of the shots landed on the gloves of the Ukrainian. The funny thing is all the judges gave identical scores in favor of the defending champion. Jerry Roth, Oren Shellenberger, and Denny Nelson all scored the fight 116-112 in favor of Alexander.
The light welterweight division has gotten more colorful lately as Amir Khan, Tim Bradley, Devon Alexander and Marcos Maidana have been making a lot of noise in the boxing scene. Juan Manuel Marquez has also made clear his intention of joining the division. Bradley is the most sought after fighter though. Both Khan and Alexander have expressed their desire to share the ring with WBO Holder Bradley but Khan is the more formidable foe for the ?Desert Storm?. With his recent showing against Kotelnik, Alexander?s ass can be whooped by either Khan or Bradley.
We can base the above premise on the quality of opposition the three boxers have faced so far. Bradley has beaten marquee fighters in the likes of then undefeated Lamont Peterson, former unified lightweight champ Nate Campbell, former champion Kendall Holt, Edner Cherry and Junior Witter. Khan on the other hand has beaten fast mouth Paulie Malignaggi, then undefeated Dmitri Salita, Andriy Kotelnik via clear UD Victory and future hall of famer Marco Antonio Barrera. Alexander only has Juan Urango, Junior Witter and a controversial win over Kotelnik in his resume.
This is why an undefeated record is not everything that matters in defining the greatness of a boxer. History has defined a boxing legend?s greatness by the names of warriors he has beaten in his career. Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Henry Armstrong, Roberto Duran, Manny Pacquiao, their names are immortalized in boxing history. They have been defeated by other names. But what made them great are the fact that they fought every fighter placed before them and many of them were great names. They never feared anything, they never feared losing.
Lastly, let us give Alexander the benefit of the doubt. He can still build a good name by facing other big names in his division. Fight anyone placed before him not giving a damn about his undefeated record and the risk of losing. With that, he can avoid being called a chicken just like fellow American Floyd Mayweather Jr. who has been so obsessed about keeping his zero loss.
