By Nate Anderson: Undefeated cruiserweight contender Alexander Alexeev (15-0, 14 KOs) made easy work of journeyman Louis Azille (19-6-2, 15 KOs), stopping him in the 2nd round of a scheduled 10-round bout on Saturday night at the Burg-Waechter Castello, Dusseldorf, in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Alexeev, 27, hurt Azille with a straight left hand late in the 2nd round, and then hit him with a flurry of shots ending with a left-right combination to put him down. Though Azille appeared make it up at the count of nine, the referee Arno Pokrandt stopped the bout at 2:56 of the 2nd round. Alexeev also dropped Azille in the 1st round, knocking him down late in the round with a left uppercut to the head.
Alexeev, a former 2004 Olympic participant from Russia now living in Germany, had his way with the shorter Azille, hitting him with straight left hands and giving him problems with his movement. In the 1st round, Alexeev jabbed Azille at a distance, placing right hooks through his guard. Azille, 37, attempted to apply pressure but Alexeev skillfully would back away while firing shots in retreat. Azille would find himself hitting only air for the most part no matter how hard he tried to land. Alexeev, a southpaw, used his right hand as a range finder holding it out in front of him and often jabbing or turning it over to a short hook.
Azille seemed not to be able to adjust to the hook, for appeared to have problems judging what would be coming – a hook or a jab. Near the end of the round, Alexeev landed a short right hook to the head, and followed it with a perfect left uppercut moments later, dropping Azille to the canvas. Azille got up, looking more embarrassed than hurt and finished the round on the attack mode.
In the 2nd round, Alexeev started out jabbing Azille repeatedly. He then began moving and then suddenly planting his feet and firing off hard left hands to the head of Azille. A short while later, Alexeev landed a huge left hand while backing up and it appeared to hurt Azille, who was in the process of coming forward at the time the punch land. Alexeev, seeing that Azille was stunned from the shot, he then landed two more powerful left hands followed by a right hand that staggered Azille. Alexeev then finished him up with a left uppercut and a sweeping right hook to the head, sending Azille crashing backwards onto the canvas. He lay there for awhile trying to clear his head, and by the time he made it to his feet the referee Arno Pokrandt waived off the fight.
Alexeev was very impressive to say the least. That said, Azille isn’t the same fighter he was earlier in his career, as he came into the fight having lost four out of his last five bouts. Still, Alexeev looked excellent, barely getting hit and showing impressive offensive and defensive skills along the way. He already looks better than most of the current top cruiserweights, including the IBF cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham, who I believe would be no math for Alexeev. For that matter, I’d place David Haye and Enzo Maccarinelli in the same category. Neither of them have nearly the skills to beat a fighter of Alexeev’s caliber.
Alexeev has a wide variety of punches at his command, and he’s hard to attack because he tends to back away much like the Klitschko brothers do when attacked. However, Alexeev fights incredibly well moving backwards, unlike Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, who aren’t able to fight going backwards. Alexeev nailed Azille on a number of occasions with big shots while on the move, and looked very relaxed at all times in the fight.