Deal reached for Devon Alexander vs. Diego Chaves fight, winner will be Kell Brook’s IBF mandatory

By Boxing News - 07/02/2015 - Comments

chaves33333By Dan Ambrose: With Amir Khan unwilling to take the fight with IBF welterweight champion, a deal was reached between the promoters for #6 IBF Diego Chaves (23-2-1, 19 KOs) and #8 IBF Devon Alexander (26-3, 14 KOs) for an IBF welterweight eliminator bout that will be taking place on September 26th at the Little Creek Casino Resort in Shelton, Washington, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

There was supposed to be a purse bid on Thursday, but it was canceled after the deal was reached on Wednesday of this week.

The Alexander vs. Chaves fight will be televised on Fox Sports 1, as part of a Premier Boxing Champions card. Rafael says the date, venue and channel could change for the fight.

Chaves has a chance of winning this fight if he can go after Alexander and pressure him nonstop. He’s going to need to deal with Alexander’s clinching, because he used that tactic to defeat Marcos Maidana by a 12 round decision in their fight in 2013. Chaves is the bigger puncher by far, but he won’t win the fight unless he goes after Alexander the same way that Shawn Porter did in beating him in 2013.

Alexander, 28, really needs a win in this fight to get him back into position for a world title shot. He was beaten by a very defensive Khan last December in losing a 12 round unanimous decision. Alexander had problems with Khan’s hand speed, and he didn’t have the punching power or the aggressiveness to take control over the fight, even though it was a winnable one if he’s had the sense to that he needed to put pressure on Khan.

The blueprint was already there for Alexander to follow in how to beat Khan if he followed what Marcos Maidana, Danny Garcia, and Breidis Prescott had done against him. Before that fight, Alexander defeated Jesus Soto Karass by a 12 round unanimous decision in June of last year. Alexander lost his IBF title to Shawn Porter in December of 2013 in losing a 12 round decision.

Chaves fought to a 12 round draw last December against Tim Bradley in Las Vegas. Some boxing fans feel that it should have been scored a victory for Bradley because of the superior work he did in the first half of the fight, but the judges were more impressed with Chaves’ aggressiveness and punching power in the last half of the bout.

Last year in August, Chaves was disqualified in the 9th round for throwing an elbow against Brandon Rios. It was a good performance from Chaves, who looked to be on his way to winning the fight when the referee suddenly ruined the fight by disqualifying Chaves in the 9th. The stoppage saved Rios from a sure thing loss, and he should have been congratulating the referee Vic Drakulitch for doing him a huge favor in giving Chaves the hook and saving his career.

Chaves defeated Juan Alberto Godoy in February of last year. Before, Chaves was stopped in the 10th round by Keith Thurman in July of 2013 in a competitive fight.



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