Alexander beats Kotelnik

In the main event of HBO’s “Boxing After Dark” from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MO, in front of 10,000+ fans backing their native son, St. Louis product, WBC and IBF light welterweight champion Devon “Alexander The Great” (21-0, 13KOs), was generously awarded a unanimous decision victory over Ukrainian and former WBA super lightweight champion Andriy Kotelnik (31-4-1, 13KOs).

Fighting for his brother Vaughn Alexander, also a boxer that once seemed to have a bright future in the sport but is now serving time in prison, Devon Alexander fought with a heavy heart keeping his sibling in his thoughts and striving to win for the Alexander family. Alexander entered the ring wearing his traditional St. Louis red and looking to make his opponent experience that same color coming from his face but instead, it came from his own.

Devon came out circling to his right, pumping numerous right jabs immediately, showing off swift hands while Kotelnik came forward timing Alexander with jabs and a few right-hands upstairs in a close first. In the second round, Kotelnik pressured Devon landing his jab well then connecting with a hard right and left to the head of the hometown fighter. Alexander was moving and did land a couple blows upstairs but most of it was being blocked, his most successful punch early was the right jab. Devon picked up the pace in the third round with machine gun jabs, straight lefts and right hooks to the body. At :37 seconds of a good round for Alexander, Kotelnik connected with the best punch so far, a hard straight right-hand that snapped back the head of his foe.

In the fourth, Alexander was very busy throwing many jabs and combinations displaying a high work rate and while Kotelnik landed fewer punches, his were more impactful and flush connecting with right and left hooks as well as a good uppercut. So it was a matter of what style the judges would favor, the higher connection rate or cleaner more effective punches. As Alexander went back to his corner at the conclusion of the fourth stanza, you could see that an average cut had opened above his right eye.

Kotelnik had a very good fifth landing some flush left hooks and right-hands to the face then Alexander flurried at the end of the round, landing some nice straight lefts and right hooks up top, which was his best combination to that point. Alexander was mixing it up well from head to body while Kotelnik mainly head hunted successfully. The sixth saw Devon’s guard drop a little and Kotelnik took advantage with his best round thus far landing numerous rights and lefts while snapping back the head of Alexander with his jab. Entering the second half of the fight, it looked to me like the Ukrainian was controlling the contest.

One minute into the seventh, while Devon was on his bicycle, Andriy landed a huge straight right directly to the kisser that caused Alexander to clinch momentarily before he went back to work moving and jabbing. The same trend continued into round eight with Devon busier but Kotelnik landing all the meaningful punches with timing and accuracy. Round eight saw Kotelnik pick up the pace, connecting with hard combinations up top while he began to employ some body work. Alexander responded coming back in the round with lots of hard jabs and a few straight lefts only to see Kotelnik catch him against the ropes landing an explosive left-right-left combination to end the round.

Kotelnik landed multiple left hooks in the ninth causing blood to stream down the cut over Alexander’s right eye. The Ukrainian fighter tagged Alexander with a hard five punch combination to his dome in the tenth as one unofficial ringside judge was questionably giving round after round to Alexander.

Entering the championship rounds, Kotelnik was landing hard head shots more frequently and punished Devon up top in the eleventh. Alexander never stopped throwing and threw aggressively in many instances and was the busier fighter through the duration but connected with more glove than skin as was the opposite for Kotelnik. In the twelfth and final round, Alexander again came out pushing the pace staying busy landing here and there until he was ripped with a Kotelnik right-hand to the mouth that caused devon to back up then hold. Alexander then resumed into the last minute punching non-stop and both pugilists landed heavy leather up top with both hands in the final sixty seconds ending an entertaining fight which had both fighters arms in the air claiming victory.

In a highly controversial conclusion, the judges gave Devon “Alexander The Great” a unanimous decision victory with all three judges score cards reading 116-112, upholding the hometown fighters undefeated record and improving to 21-0, 13KOs while defending his WBC and IBF light welterweight straps.

Alexander got a present on a night that saw him clearly lose while being punished and out landed according to my eyeballs. I do not understand most present day judges and think the sport has passed many of them by as a few robbed Andriy Kotelnik of a deserving hard fought victory that was not to be.

In the post fight interview with Max Kellerman, Alexander’s body language didn’t scream victory as he stated, “I want Bradley next, he keep talking that he the best in the division, I want him next, then whoever else can come.” Concluding the statement and interview, Alexander was given a t-shirt by a member of his team that he held up for all to see that read, “Bradley U Next.”