Devon Alexander wins IBF Welterweight title in 12 round UD

By ESB - 10/21/2012 - Comments

Devon Alexander wins IBF Welterweight title in 12 round UDBy Joseph Herron – In one of the most disappointing title changing efforts of recent memory, Devon Alexander (24-1, 13 KOs) lifted the IBF Welterweight strap from 38 year old Randall Bailey (43-8, 37 KOs) of Miami, Florida, to open Showtime’s quadruple header on Saturday night at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The former Junior Welterweight title holder easily controlled the action with lateral movement and a quick irregular jab. In what seemed like a fight with more clinches than punches thrown, both men threw and connected at an abysmal rate.

Alexander landed only 120 of 534 total punches thrown, and Bailey set a Compu-Box record for an all time low 45 of 198 total punches thrown.

According the punch statistic organization, the 38 year old fighter broke the previous record held by Bonecrusher Smith during his hug-fest with Mike Tyson, who connected with only 48 total punches.

After the long twelve round contest, the judges at ringside unanimously scored the bout in favor of Devon Alexander with tallies of 115-111, 116-110, and 117-109.

The St. Louis based fighter commented on his title winning performance.

“I could have done way, way better than that,” admitted Devon Alexander. “I expected him to be strong and maybe I was too cautious. But he’s got more knock-outs than I have wins, so I had to be smart and fight a cautious fight. He’s a smart veteran and he hits hard so I had to be careful.”

With the win, the 25 year old fighter now becomes a two division world champion and sets himself up for a possible unification bout with Paulie Malignaggi, who was also successful last night against the tough Pablo Cesar Cano.

The crafty southpaw fighter could also defend his title against the winner of the November 24 th showdown between Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero and Andre Berto.