Alekseev Stops Releford

By Boxing News - 07/05/2009 - Comments

alekseev34By Jim Dower: Former 2004 Russian Olympian Alexander Alekseev (18-1, 16 KO’s) defeated American journeyman Kendrick Releford (20-13-2, 10 KO’s) by a 3rd round TKO on Saturday night at the Color Line Arena, in Hamburg, Germany. The fight was stopped after the 3rd round due to a cut over the left eye of Releford, which had opened up in the 1st round. It was a bad cut just above the 27-year-old Releford’s left eyelid.

Alekseev, 28, mostly dominated the three rounds of the fight with his left hands to the body and head. However, Releford, a former heavyweight with good size at 6’3” and a long reach, nailed Alekseev with occasional big right hands in each of the rounds.

Luckily for Alekseev that Releford wasn’t consistent with his right hands because the fight would have been much more competitive had Releford fought with a better punch output. Alekseev never had Releford in trouble and had to be content with walking him down and landing straight left hands and right hooks.

In the 1st round, Alekseev started off fast going straight at Releford and hitting him with combinations. Releford backed up to the ropes and fought most of the round in that spot. It was target practice for Alekseev for much of the round.

However, Releford tagged Alekseev with a couple of big right hands as Alekseev was coming in trying to land his own shots. The start of the 2nd round was delayed when the referee came over and inspected Releford’s left eye in between rounds and decided that the ringside doctor needed to have a look at the cut.

After the doctor examine cut, which was a long one, the fight was allowed to continue. However, from the concern that Releford’s corner was showing about the cut, it seemed that they weren’t going to let the fight continue for long. Just as in the first round, Alekseev backed Releford up to the ropes and began to hammer him with big shots.

Seconds into the round, Releford unleashed a big right hand that connected to the head of Alekseev, knocking him back a foot. It was a nice shot and if Releford had followed it up with two or three more big punches he might have had Alekseev in trouble.

Releford showed good right hand power and was the better puncher of the two in the fight. However, he stopped punching immediately and began to get hit with jabs from the now cautious Alekseev. Near the end of the round, Alekseev was finally brave enough to throw a left hand, but for the most part he seemed nervous about getting hit with another big right hand from Releford.

In the 3rd round, Releford tagged Alekseev with a huge right hand as the round began. Alekseev ignored the shot and began to hit Releford with straight lefts and combinations, keeping him pinned to the ropes. For the remainder of the round, Alekseev mostly jabbed and sprinkled in an occasional left hand as Releford stood against the ropes like a sparring partner taking shots and every once in awhile hitting Alekseev with a nice right hand.

After the round ended, the referee went over to Releford’s corner and they informed him that they didn’t wish for the fight ton continue. The fight was then stopped.

The good news is that Alekseev fought at a much better pace in the fight than he did in his last bout against Max Alexander in May. In that fight, Alekseev fought at a snail’s pace as if he was afraid to run out of gas like he did in his bout against Victor Emilio Ramirez four months earlier in the year in April. Alekseev lost that fight by a 9th round retirement by his corner.

Alekseev is currently ranked #5 in the World Boxing Organization, #8 in the WBA and #8 in the WBC cruiserweight division despite the loss to Ramirez.