By Dan Ambrose: Newly crowned IBF welterweight champion Randall Bailey (43-7, 37 KO’s) could wind up facing former IBF/WBC light welterweight champion Devon Alexander (23-1, 13 KO’s) on August 25th.

According to RingTV, Golden Boy promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said that Showtime President of Sports programming Stephen Espinoza has approved the Bailey-Alexander fight.

Alexander, 25, wants the fight and the only thing that stands in the way of the fight being made is whether Bailey wants to make a tough first defense of his title or now. Bailey, 37, will have to be soon facing the winner of the Kell Brook vs. Carson Jones fight, and that won’t be easy to beat the winner of that bout.

Bailey came from behind to stop previously unbeaten Mike Jones in the 11th round on June 9th. Bailey was getting out-boxed by Jones when Bailey knocked Jones down with a right to the head in the 10th. A round later, Bailey finished Jones off with a huge right uppercut that knocked Jones flat on his back on the canvas. The fight was halted at that point.

It’s a good thing that Bailey did stop Jones, because he was behind in the fight by the scores of 97-93, 98-92 and 99-91. Bailey definitely needed a knockout to win, and that chance came for him when Jones made the mistake of getting too close to Bailey when he threw a lazy jab in the 11th. Bailey fired back a perfect right uppercut that sailed between Jones’ guard to get the knockout.

Alexander would be a very tough opponent for a fighter like Jones because of Alexander’s hand speed and his tendency to clinch a lot. In Alexander’s recent lopsided 10 round unanimous decision win over Marcos Maidana last February, Alexander clinched Maidana constantly, clinching as much 10 times per round. Alexander would throw a punch and immediately grab Maidana to keep him from getting his shots off. It worked perfectly, but it was really ugly to watch.