By Jason Kim: What we saw from Devon Alexander (21-1, 13 KO’s) in his last two fights is that he struggles if his opponents put continuous pressure on him and tag him with hard jabs, as Timothy Bradley and Andriy Kotelnik both did. Alexander won the Kotelnik fight by controversy in a 12 round unanimous decision, and was beaten by Bradley in a 10th round technical decision.

Now Alexander will be facing the hardest puncher of his career in Lucas Matthysse (28-1, 26 KO’s) tonight in a 12 round World Boxing Organization (WBO) light welterweight title eliminator bout at the Family Arena in Saint Charles, Missouri. Alexander, 24, has a got a lot to prove after his dismal performance against Bradley in January, and he’s got a tough opponent to prove himself against with the hard hitting Matthysse. Alexander thinks he’ll be able to stop Matthysse and shine in the process.

However, for Alexander to win and beat Matthysse by a knockout he’s going to have to take a lot of chances in this fight and get hit a lot. Alexander isn’t a big defensive artist. He has good hand speed and a great jab. He does well when he’s being allowed to work and set the pace. But when his opponents come at him with their own shots and apply pressure, Alexander suddenly doesn’t look that great.

We saw early signs of this in Alexander’s fight against DeMarcus Corley in 2008 and his fight against Junior Witter in 2009, where Alexander didn’t look very special when Corley and Witter went on the attack. However, Alexander was able to win those fights because neither of those guys really went after Alexander in the same way that Bradley and Kotelnik did. Matthysse is a completely different animal from all those fighters, because he’s a lot more aggressive, hits harder and throws more punches. In essence, Matthysse is a nightmarish opponent for Alexander. The only thing that could help Alexander in this fight is that it’s taking place in Missouri where Alexander lives and that could help because of the pro-Alexander crowd.