Devon Alexander has a number of things going for him. He possesses quick hands, solid reflexes, a fair amount of durability and toughness, and enough heart to bounce back strong from a punishing stretch of rounds, making him difficult to steamroll over.
On top of that, the St. Louis native looked classy dancing around the cement feet of Juan Urango last year, especially compared to the tactics Ricky Hatton and Andre Berto had to resort to against the Colombian slugger. But since the uppercut that sparked the steel-chinned former titlist, Alexander, 22-1, has become the king of the insignificant punch. His assault leaves more of an audible impression than a visible one, yelping and swatting while simultaneously stepping back to avoid the return. It?s often difficult to tell whether his punches land or not. In contrast, the blows his adversaries land tend to be aesthetically pleasing because Alexander has the dexterity of Phil Jackson.
It?s a distressing sign that his style is more amateur than professional when judges are far more moved by his attacks than his opponents are. Lucas Matthysse, the man who threw with mean intent and landed to great effect, lost a split decision Saturday night at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri, even though he probably deserved the victory if we?re judging professional boxing the correct way. But while a 95-94 card in Alexander?s favor is a reach, reasonable minds can disagree. Carlos Colon?s 96-93 score, however, kicks sand over the line between incompetence and corruption. Closer inspection to see which of Matthysse?s dominant rounds ?four (10-8), seven, eight, and ten? were scored for Alexander would be both comical and demoralizing. Chances are, Mr. Colon?s insights will never be further explored, his scorecard likely torched with a lighter that has the initials ?DK? engraved on it.
Matthysse, 28-2 with 26 knockouts, is cut from the same cloth as fellow Argentine Marcos Maidana, he?s a limited fighter who?s relentless, durable, and strong. The appeal of a clash between the two countrymen is obvious. Fights with Timothy Bradley, Erik Morales, Lamont Peterson, or any other prominent Jr. Welterweight would also be fun.
Meanwhile, being the beneficiary of head-scratching scorecards has its consequences. A reputation follows, and Alexander may have a tough time getting a name to fight him on hometurf from here on out, regardless of how many tickets he sells.
*****
On the Alexander-Matthysse undercard, Tavoris Cloud took Yusaf Mack out with a leaping left hook in the eighth round, but failed to impress up until then. Cloud, possessor of explosive hands and slow feet, looked poorly equipped to handle Mack?s movement. The Tallahassee, Florida, resident is generally exciting, however, and a possible showdown with Jean Pascal still holds plenty of intrigue, but his struggles with Mack raise new question marks on how he?ll handle Pascal?s speed. Fighting more than two times a year would help the 29-year-old titlist.
*****
Presumably, the point of HBO airing Bermane Stiverne fastidiously match wits with 40-year-old Ray Austin was to find out if Stiverne is a promising heavyweight prospect. He isn?t. But we did discover that Roy Jones Jr. can probably find the beauty in a Chupacabra, consistently describing the ugliest punches you?ll ever see as ?beautiful straight rights? during replays between rounds.
****
More intriguing action was found at Hillsborough Leisure Centre in Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Kell Brook, a talented up-and-coming welterweight from the UK, showcased his craft in outpointing Lovemore N?dou by scores of 119-110, 119-110, and 118-111. The versatile 25-year-old looked comfortable throughout, using creative angles to navigate around N?dou?s stalwart guard and land more flush punches on the aging veteran than we?re accustomed to seeing. Brook, 24-0 with 16 KOs, can tighten his defense up some, but his offense is dynamic. You don?t often see N?dou visibly bother by a shot and Brook managed to pull off the feat fairly consistently. Hopefully he fights a top ten welter sooner rather than later.
*****
Shortly after, a clash in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany between UK?s Matthew Macklin and middleweight titlist Felix Sturm became one of the better fights of the year and the first spring of controversy of the day (the dam broke on HBO five hours later). Macklin, 28-3, set a torrid pace to begin the fight, thrashing Sturm?s midsection and ripping uppercuts between his guard. Predictably, Sturm chose his spots carefully, and it became a case of quality vs. quantity. But Macklin?s quantity largely swamped Sturm?s quality during the first half.
While Macklin began to tire in the last five rounds, the damage inflicted during the opening stretch prevented an equally fatigued Sturm from completely taking over the bout. Still, the longtime WBA titlist appeared the slightly stronger man and won most of the exchanges down the stretch. The surprisingly brutal fight was scored a draw from this seat, but the judges that mattered produced two 116-112 cards that favored Sturm, with a dissenting card that was more respectably scored 115-113 for Macklin.
Again, reasonable minds can disagree, and it was a close bout that was much tougher to score than Matthysse?s pounding of Alexander. But Sturm, 36-2-1, getting the benefit of every doubt in every one of his title defenses is getting tiresome.
Fair outcomes to muddled affairs surely occur in boxing events within Germany and St. Louis. They just never seem to involve Felix Sturm or Devon Alexander.
