Alexander Defeats Callist

By Boxing News - 03/28/2008 - Comments

By Erik Smight: As expected, unbeaten light welterweight prospect Devon Alexander (15-0, 8 KOs) defeated Panamanian Miguel Callist (24-7-1, 17 KOs) last night, beating him by a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision on the undercard of the dull Cory Spinks vs. Verno Phillips IBF light middleweight title bout at the Scottrade Center, in Saint Louis, Missouri. At stake for the 21 year-old Alexander was the WBC Continental Americas light welterweight title, which he had won previously in his last bout against former contender DeMarcus Corley.

In terms of matchups, this fight with Callist was a step backwards in that he was badly overmatched and was unable to fight competitively with Alexander for most of the bout. There was little to remark about the fight, other than Alexander knocking Callist down in the final round. During most rounds, Alexander pounded away at Callist at close quarters, hitting him with a fierce body attack and hooks to the head. Callist, a fighter never to be mistaken for a powerhouse, had little to offer in return to match Alexander’s constant workrate. I kept hoping that Callist would go all out, trying to match the energy and aggression of his fellow countryman Roberto Duran, but alas he wasn’t looking to go out on his shield the way that Duran surely would have.

In the early rounds, Alexander threw a lot of combinations, showing the skills that enabled him to win the 2004 United States Amateur light welterweight champion, but his punches seemed to do little to Callist other than pile on points. As usual, Alexander let out loud noises every time he’d throw a punch, reminding me somewhat of heavyweight Jimmy Young, and just like Young, Alexander seemed to have little power behind any of his shots. That’s not to say that they weren’t effective, because they seemed to have done the job on Callist. Alexander, however, needed to throw a lot to do the damage, and yet he still was unable to score the knockout in the end.

That, perhaps more than anything, is something that will be a problem for Alexander in the future. The reason being, if he’s not able to knockout a fair percentage of his opponents, it essentially means that he’ll be forced to fight the entire bout. Even in winning, he’ll take a lot of punishment if he’s required to go the full distance.

At this stage in his career, I’m not sure how much more power Alexander can get with his punches considering that by his age, most fighters aren’t going to get a whole lot more powerful. In the heavyweight division, however, they do often get more powerful as they age, but as for smaller fighters like Alexander, they either have it or they don’t. Time does little for them, other than slowing down their reflexes and making them more likely to get beaten.