By Jason Kim: This Saturday night former IBF/WBC light welterweight champion Devon Alexander (21-1, 13 KO’s) will be trying to get back to his winning ways against contender Lucas Matthysse (28-1, 26 KO’s) at the Family Arena in Saint Charles, Missouri. Alexander, 24, faces arguably the hardest puncher of his career in 28-year-old Matthysse and it’s under less than good conditions given how Alexander seemed to quit in his last fight against Bradley.

If Alexander wasn’t able to handle Bradley’s pressure you have to wonder how he’ll do against the stronger Matthysse. Alexander may not have to worry about headbutts against Matthysse but he will have to worry about a much more dangerous weapon with Matthysse’s fists. He’s an excellent body puncher and will make things tough for Alexander in this fight. Matthysse already knows that he can’t take it easy on Alexander after losing a fight himself against Zab Judah last year, a bout that Matthysse waited too long to get his offense in gear.

Matthysse knows that he has to take the fight to Alexander immediately in order to have a real chance of beating him in front of his home crowd. He can’t expect to win a decision against Alexander unless he can take the fight to him and wear him down. Alexander is going to make it easy for him by electing to trade rather than box. It’s pretty easy to get Alexander into a war, because he hasn’t become accustomed to losing yet and still acts as if he can trade with anyone. We learned in the Bradley fight that Alexandre has limitations and can’t trade without losing focus. Matthysse looked incredibly power in his last fight against DeMarcus Corley. Alexander is going to have to avoid exchanging with him because that will be playing into the Argentinian’s hands. Fighting in front of a home crowd could be a bad thing for Alexander because they’ll be encouraging him to slug more than he would if the fight were held in a neutral venue.