WBO junior welterweight champion Tim Bradley didn?t catch Devon Alexander?s struggle against Andriy Kotelnik this Saturday night on HBO. ?The Desert Storm? was preparing to come back home after a week-long vacation in Hawaii. But he was kept abreast of the action from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis throughout the evening.
“I got a phone call from my brother-in-law; he?s a boxing fan and he just basically told me, ?Devon is in a tough fight right now. He?s getting beat up.? He was like, ?Kotelnik is timing him, just catching him with straight punches up the middle. Devon looked tired. He was fighting when he needed to box.? He was just telling me all these things and he was just like, ?Dude, you would smash Devon Alexander,?” said Bradley on Monday afternoon.
As he returned to Southern California on Sunday, he was able to view the fight for himself.
“I was just like, wow; I couldn?t believe he threw so many punches; he couldn?t hurt Kotelnik and Kotelnik showed him no respect. He just came forward, hands up, walked straight through his shots and Devon just got caught with straight shots up the middle. The jab was landing. Devon would lunge in with a punch and a jab would hit him in the face,” said Bradley, of the fight which was won by the scores of 116-112 across the board for the WBC/IBF beltholder. But many observers believed that the steady Russian more than deserved the nod. “I was just like, wow; I didn?t know his defense was that bad. I just felt he got exposed. He got exposed; Kotelnik exposed him.”
In the wake of Bradley?s victory over Carlos Abregu last month, Alexander and his trainer/manager Kevin Cunningham were critical of his performance. Well, what do they say? People in glass houses shouldn?t throw left hooks?
“Absolutely,” agreed Bradley, “because that slapped them in the face. It backfired on them. They talked about my performance against Carlos Abregu, which I dominated him in my fight and his performance- of course, they?re going to say, ?Oh, well, Abregu?s not an Olympic medalist; he?s not this; he?s not that- but still, Devon?s supposed to be a star in boxing and the best 140-pounder out there and he?s supposed to dominate this guy, which Amir Khan had no problems doing. And he?s number two in the division and he looked like that. It kinda surprised me. I thought Devon was going to dominate the fight but he struggled, man. He struggled bad against Kotelnik.
“My performance, I didn?t really struggle, man; it was an easy fight,? added Bradley. ?I did what I had to do against a dangerous puncher. It was a bigger weight class. I had never been in that weight class before. Of course, I would be a little bit timid and not just rush in there and do my thing. But my performance was dominating. I think the guy only won two, three rounds that whole night.”
Pretty soon, this war of words will play out inside the ring. It?s been mentioned prominently that the two will square off on January 29th, 2011.
Bradley?s co-promoter, Gary Shaw told Maxboxing, “I believe we?re going to go straight to the fight with Alexander in January on HBO.”
These statements are echoed by Don King who handles the career of Alexander. “It?s going to happen on my end and I already told Devon we?re going at this guy and that will be the week before the Super Bowl. That will be a great, great position, a great thing to happen,” said the veteran promoter. “But the thing would be, they would have to pay for it. They ain?t going to get it cheaply because I got a very cantankerous individual and iconoclast in Kevin Cunningham. I love him to death but I understand what I have to deal with. And that?s the difference between most of them; you have to understand that ghetto-ese or the hieroglyphics that they be speaking or uttering.
“But you have to speak in many tongues, and then Gary Shaw, he?s going to want more money also,? continued King. ?So, at the end of the day, we want to be able to deal with it where we can come up front and personal because that fight is made. And then we?ll see what they?re doing because that can?t be a ?Boxing After Dark? show. They?re going to have to come up with the budget for an HBO ?Championship Boxing? [show].?
Another issue, outside of the compensation for both boxers, is just where this fight would land.
“It?ll probably be in a neutral territory because, after Saturday night, there?s not a chance I would bring Timmy to St. Louis,” stated Shaw, “and I read where Devon Alexander doesn?t want to go to Agua Caliente. So we?ll have to find a suitable neutral site and I have three in mind.”
So what are Bradley?s thoughts on all this?
“I still think the fight?s premature but I?m not sure what my promoters and managers want to do. I?m sure they want to- after seeing this fight- make the fight. Before this fight, they wanted to make this fight but it all just all depends on how negotiations go and what all the terms are. Where the fights going to be, it just depends on the negotiations. But like I said, me personally, I?ll fight him; I?ll fight him if the terms are right- but I still think it?s premature.
“But if boxing fans, the boxing world wants to see it, hey, if everything?s right, the fight will happen on January 29th.”
MICROWAVED
While Bradley?s last comments might make some fans cringe, he does have a point. The bottom line is that if Bradley?s next fight is against Alexander on that date, his 2010 will have consisted of one solitary fight. Also, it means that both boxers will go about another half-year without performing.
Now, is this the best way to build up a supposedly big fight? Maybe you could get away with this if it came to Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather but the reality is that Bradley-Alexander is a match-up of two promising young fighters who the general public doesn?t really know all that much about. Nothing more, nothing less.
Cameron Dunkin, who manages Bradley, doesn?t disagree with his fighter.
“Yeah, it would be nice to be more active and busy and I hate to sit and have him sit till basically February,” he said. “I mean, he?s going to be off for a long time going into a major fight like this. It?s a shame that there isn?t some kind of warm-up.”
To see how much this business has changed (for the worse) is the example of how when Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns first met in September of 1981, that in the prior ten months leading to that super-fight, Leonard fought three times (facing Roberto Duran in the famous ?No Mas? rematch, Larry Bonds and Ayub Kalule). Hearns, meanwhile, in the 13 months prior, took on Pipino Cuevas, Luis Primera, Randy Shields and Pablo Baez (And before anyone starts up, this is in no way comparing Bradley and Alexander to Leonard and Hearns; this is just an example of just how inactive contemporary prizefighters are).
“They need to be fighting four times a year and, the sad part is, they made good money on HBO and Showtime. They make such good money that it?s hard to get the kids to fight for a lot less money to stay active,” said Dunkin, who says that one of the main reasons why he signed off on moving ahead with the Alexander fight next is that he has assurances that Bradley will get an additional two dates on HBO in 2011, win, lose or draw on January 29th.
“You can?t blame the kids for it,” Dunkin continued, “but it?s also not good for them. To me, it?s better for them to stay busy. It builds a higher quality fighter.”
WILD CARD
I spent some time on Tuesday afternoon at the Wild Card Boxing Club, where I interviewed lightweight hopeful Mercito Gesta and his trainer/manager Vincent Parra. But as I always do, I had a few words with Freddie Roach, who is still awaiting the arrival of one Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who, in one month, faces the tough Pawel Wolak in Mexico.
Yes, as Yogi Berra once famously uttered, ?This is d?j? vu, all over again.?
“We are going through the same thing,” said Roach, laughing at the thought. “Again, once he?s here, he?s fine. Bob [Arum] is upset. He was here for a moment but then he had to go back over for a press conference. He?s having trouble getting back over. But again, I told him we need him back in the gym to practice and perfect what we?ve been working on because we?re not quite there yet. We did OK in the last fight [versus John Duddy] but we can do better.”
If he should beat Walek on September 11th, there could be a fight against Miguel Cotto on December 4th. But not having a full camp may not give Roach the evaluation time he desires.
“I want to see what I can do with him in an eight-week camp,” he said. “How perfect we can be. We?re not going to get everything done, of course; he?s human. But the thing is, he can make it a lot easier on himself if he?s here already.”
Soon after that assignment, he?ll be on his way to work his best known client, Manny Pacquiao.
“The 11th is the Chavez fight; I come back here on the 12th; the plans are for me to leave for the Philippines on the 13th,” said Roach, who wants to return to some familiar haunts. “I?m pushing for Baguio but because of Congress, he might have to be in Manila. So we?re working that out right now. Manny just built a brand new gym in Manila.”
Does it come with bleachers for all the expected visitors that are sure to arrive?
“I?m going to shut the doors; I have to,” insisted Roach. “This is a big fight, possibly at a new weight division.”
Yeah, the junior-junior middleweight division of 150 pounds.
“I still want this fight at ?47,” said Roach. “But I don?t think I?m going to get quite there. They?re talking about catchweights, I?m against catchweight fights. Either do it or don?t.”
Geez, I never knew Freddie was such a traditionalist. But hasn?t he been involved in quite a few of these with his work with Pacquiao and Bernard Hopkins a few years ago?
“Well, Pacquiao?s only had one, though. I mean, they?re calling him the ?Catchweight King? but he had [only] one. So it?s a little unfair,” said Roach, laughing loudly. But a 150-pound weight limit for the vacant WBC junior middleweight belt is something he opposes. “I mean, if you?re going to fight for a title, fight for the whole one.”
Also, Roach gets asked all the time, ?So how?s Manny?? He wants to clarify that he talks to the Congressman about as much as you or I when they are not in training camp. The respected trainer admits, “I don?t talk to him ever. I?ll get a BBM (Blackberry message) message from him sometimes and I?ll say, ?Hi? back. ?How?s congress?? I?m not good at texting and stuff so my answers are very short back to him. But the thing is, we don?t communicate [all that much]. When we see each other is when we speak.”
Leading up to their fights, whatever dialogue they engage in will focus mainly on the upcoming camp and discussions of where they will train and prospective sparring partners. And now, with his political duties, they speak even less.
“I haven?t spoken to him since he left America. The last time I saw him was at the Hall of Fame dinner,” which took place in early June in New York. “I said, ?Congratulations, Manny.? He was so swamped that night, I didn?t even get too much of a conversation that night. But we were happy to see each other. We have no problem with each other. We understand [that] he does his thing; I do my things.
“He knows I?m working; I know he?s working. So it?s not a problem.”
HUMP DAY FLURRIES
I really like the fight between Jean Pascal and Chad Dawson for the WBC light heavyweight title but it?s a bit of a buzzkill when HBO and Showtime only go with one fight on a telecast…I?m making a mental note to never, ever upset a flight attendant while flying Jet Blue…I?ll say it right now, Scottie Pippen, who gets inducted into the hoops Hall of Fame this Friday night is the greatest wingman ever. Of course, he might have been the all-time worst tipper. There?s a reason why they called him ?No-Tippin Pippin?…Seriously, with as many clubs as Shaq O?Neil has been on, now is he the ?Big Bobby Bonds??…I can be reached at [email protected] and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.
