By Robert Brown: Devon Alexander is preparing to move up and launch an assault on the 147l pound division after winning a highly controversial fight against the 140 pound brawler Lucas Matthysse. Rather than organizing a re-match, Alexander has decided to resurrect his career and go after bigger names and bigger money in the 147 pound division.
In my opinion this is a suicide mission! After a loss to Bradley and disputed decision wins against Kotelnik and Matthysse, this looms as a disastrous move by Alexander and his team to move him up to the 147l pound division, one which will have him facing bigger, stronger and faster fighters than what he has currently barely survived against, and one which could easily spell the end of his thus far unfulfilled career.
Certain sections of the boxing world seem to have a higher level of fascination with Alexander, and build him up under false pretenses to be one of the boxing worlds shining stars, when it is clear from his recent fights that he is the new generation “Zab Judah”, who just like him fails to perform under pressure against elite competition.
His first fight in this division will most likely be against Paulie Malignaggi, who Devon Alexander will most likely dominate, which will leave certain sections of the boxing public in raptures with him again. But don’t be fooled, Malignaggi, although being a highly skilled technical boxer, does not have the punching power to successfully intimidate Alexander, or the pressure to force him on the back foot, which is what must be done to beat him.
The fact of the matter is that if Alexander struggled with the punching power and pressure of Kotelnik, Matthysse and Bradley; Bradley not being known as a hard puncher, then Alexander is not going to be able to cope with the combined power, speed and boxing skill of either Berto or Ortiz. Because on top of struggling with fighters who put the pressure on and force him backwards; as seen recently in the fight against a straight line brawler like Matthysse, where Alexander repeatedly ate straight right hands like Queen Latifah eats burgers, punches like Berto and Ortiz, who have the ability to apply that kind of extreme pressure, will devour Alexander like Rosie O’Donnell devours a large pizza. And if he struggles to compete with those guys, I can’t possibly imagine that he could ever come close to reaching the likes of Pacquiao or Mayweather.
I don’t give Alexander much chance of winning a major championship in the 147l pound division, he simply will not be able to deal with the sustained pressure and speed combined with the skill level that these fighters can provide. And as far as I can tell this move up to 147 pounds is about landing a couple of big pay checks off of his name rather than dominating the division.
Personally I believe Matthysse won the fight against Alexander and deserves a rematch. Alexander should grant that wish before moving up, and if Alexander is moving up to get away from fighters such as Matthysse and Khan, then the 147lb division will not only expose his ticker problem again, like it was exposed against Timothy Bradley, but he himself will also be exposed for what he is, all flash and no fabric..