Can “Alexander the Great” regain control of his career after a disappointing outing against Bradley?
On June 25, 2011, Devon Alexander will have to answer the question that every great up and coming fighter has to answer after losing their first professional fight, “can I pick up the pieces and move on with my career?”
Devon will be fighting in his hometown at the Family Arena in St. Louis Missouri against a very tough and aggressive fighter in Argentinean Lucas Matthysse. It’s a fight that should bring some excitement to the boxing world as “Alexander the Great” looks to right the ship and get back on the path towards superstardom in the junior welterweight division.
Tale of the Tape
Devon “Alexander the Great” Alexander is 24 years old with a great boxing record of 21 wins with only 1 loss. He stands at 5 feet 8 inches tall, with a 71 inch reach, fighting out of the southpaw stance.
Lucas Matthysse is 28 years old with a great boxing record as well, consisting of 28 wins, 1 loss, and 1 no contest. He stands at 5 feet 10 inches tall, with 72 inch reach, fighting out of the orthodox stance.
Alexander vs. Matthysse Preview
Okay, we all know the story about Devon Alexander by now… He grew up in the tough inner city of St. Louis Missouri, has a great amateur background, possesses solid boxing and counterpunching skills, and has gotten off to an excellent start to his professional career, until he failed to perform up to expectations against Timothy Bradley.
In the fight prior to the Bradley showdown, he went up against a game fighter in Ukrainian star Andreas Kotelnik, and the pressure of Kotelnik almost got the best of Devon, as Kotelnik stayed in Devon’s chest the whole night, not giving him an ounce of rest. Devon persevered and toughed out the long night and in the end, Alexander was awarded the twelve round unanimous decision victory, despite some boxing experts who felt that Kotelnik did enough to pull off the upset.
In January, Devon was all set to take junior welterweight supremacy as he faced off against Timothy Bradley in a unification junior welterweight showdown, but there was only one problem, after all of his big talk it looked as if he didn’t really come to fight. This fight was a huge let down to the boxing world, as both fighters were waiting for the other one to throw and neither did much to take command. The fight ended in the tenth round when Alexander was accidently head butted by Bradley, causing the fight to go to the judges’ scorecards, and Timothy Bradley was awarded the technical decision victory.
Turning to Lucas Matthysse, he is a rough and tough Argentinean junior welterweight contender that would give a lot fighters trouble, as he poses an effective and aggressive style which typically has led to stoppage wins thus far in his career.
Matthysse turned professional in 2004 and has a few quality wins over fighters such as Vivian Harris, Luis Ernesto Jose, and in his last fight, he won an eighth round technical knockout victory over the always tough Demarcus “Chop Chop” Corley in January.
Before the “Chop Chop” fight, in November of 2010 he put his undefeated record on the line against Zab ‘’Super” Judah, with a title shot awaiting the winner. Matthysse gave Judah all he could handle and scored a knockdown in the tenth round against Zab. The fight ended up going to the scorecards and Zab was awarded the controversial twelve round split-decision victory, which would end up being the first loss in Matthysse’s career.
Alexander vs. Matthysse Prediction
This is a tale of the one loss sweepstakes. Both fighters are tailor-made for each other, with Devon having the advantage of boxing, speed and technical skill, and Matthysee bringing in his pure aggression and power. Because of the contrasting styles, in a contest where I am sure that “Alexander the Great” will be the favorite, I feel this is actually a pick em’ fight.
Can Devon Alexander bounce back from the letdown in January? If he does, I expect him to be on his game and pick apart the slower, sloppier Matthysse for the duration of the bout. If he’s not at his best, then it could be another long evening for him. But in truth, this fight really has little to do with Matthysse and everything to do with Devon. In the end, I feel that Devon will answer the bell, en route to resurrecting his career and performing the way the boxing world knows how he can perform.
Prediction: Alexander by twelve round unanimous decision.
