What do you get when you match up one of boxing’s best athletes and tacticians with a man considered to be the most devastating puncher in the sport today? A fight that can’t miss. That will be the case when former World Champion Devon Alexander “The Great” and IBF Welterweight World Champion Randall Bailey square off on Saturday, September 8,in a 12-round battle for Bailey’s title at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
There will be more championship action on September 8, as unbeaten Ajose Olusegun and Argentine power puncher Lucas Matthysse tangle for the vacant WBC Interim Super Lightweight crown.
Devon Alexander “The Great” (23-1, 13 KO’s), no stranger to facing and beating powerful knockout artists as evidenced by his last two wins coming against Lucas Matthysse and Marcos Maidana, has the skill and will to baffle any opponent he faces.
An eight-year professional who held both the WBC Super Lightweight and IBF Junior Welterweight World Titles before losing them via a controversial and close technical decision to Timothy Bradley in 2011, the proud 25-year-old St. Louis native has since reinvented himself at 147 pounds. After his big wins over two of Argentina’s best in Marcos Maidana (W10) and Lucas Matthysse (W 10), Alexander is looking forward to proving himself once again by beating Bailey and becoming a two-division world champion.
A veteran of more than 16 years in the professional game, Randall Bailey (43-7, 37 KO’s) has not slowed down a bit at age 37. In fact, if his recent one-punch knockout of previously unbeaten Mike Jones in June is any indication, he may be more powerful than ever. The Miami, Fla. resident has always had a gift for blasting out anyone who stood in his line of fire. Bailey utilized his trademark power to claim his first world title in 1999 when he knocked out Carlos Gonzalez for the WBO Junior Welterweight World Championship in just 41 seconds.
In 2002, Bailey won a second title by knocking out Demetrio Ceballos, but his victory over Jones earlier this year for the IBF Welterweight crown, which extended his unbeaten streak to five in a row, may have been the sweetest win yet. Now, he looks to defend that title for the first time on September 8, in Las Vegas.
For a long time, boxing fans wondered if Nigeria-born Ajose Olusegun (30-0, 14 KO’s) would ever get his shot at a big fight. He was simply too risky for the big names to fight and the 32-year-old southpaw knew it.
While awaiting his big shot, he did what all world-class competitors do-he kept fighting and kept winning, confident that his time would come. Now making his home in London, England, Olusegun is the British and Commonwealth Champion at 140 pounds, and after recent impressive wins over Colin Lynes and Ali Chebah, it’s clear that the 11-year professional has finally arrived. On September 8, he gets to prove that he belongs.
Perhaps the only man able to challenge Bailey for the unofficial title of “Most Feared Puncher” in boxing today, Trelew, Argentina’s Lucas Matthysse (31-2, 29 KO’s) has built his reputation with a ferocious attack that few can withstand.
A longtime standout in his home country, Matthysse began making noise on the international scene with razor-thin split decision losses to former World Champions Alexander and Zab “Super” Judah that saw him drop both fighters during the course of each fight. In recent fights, Matthysse has left the judges out of it, most recently dispatching respected former World Champion Humberto “Zorrita” Soto in five rounds in June to earn his shot at the interim belt. Don’t expect Matthysse to let it get to the scorecards on September 8.
Alexander vs. Bailey, a 12-round fight for Bailey’s IBF Welterweight World Title taking place Saturday, September 8 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, is presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with The Great Promotions and DiBella Entertainment and sponsored by Corona and AT&T. The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast will air live at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) with Ajose Olusegun facing Lucas Matthysse for the vacant WBC Interim Super Lightweight title in the co-featured fight which is presented in association with Arano Box Promotions. Preliminary fights will air live on SHOWTIME EXTREME® beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).
Tickets, priced at $200, $100, $75, $50 and $25, along with a limited number of VIP suite seats priced at $150, go on sale on Friday, August 17 at noon PT and may be purchased at the Hard Rock Hotel Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, online at www.Ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000.
