Witter vs. Alexander for WBC Light Welterweight Interim Title

By Boxing News - 01/09/2009 - Comments

witter6643465By Nate Anderson: In the latest news, Devon Alexander (17-0, 10 KOs) will fight Junior Witter (37-2-2, 22 KOs) for the interim World Boxing Council light welterweight title. No date has been set for this bout as of yet. This fight, which was made known on Steve Bunces’s Boxing Hour show earlier today, is the result of WBC light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley battling Kendall Holt, the WBO champion, on April 4th.

This fight figures to be a potential problem for Alexander, who due to the mostly soft opposition that he’s faced thus far in his career, probably won’t be ready for the speed and counter-punching ability of Witter. Alexander prefers to fight mainly on the inside where he can take advantage of his limited reach and land a lot of punches.

At a distance, Alexander is much more beatable and out of his comfort zone. Witter’s style would seem to be all wrong for Alexander and it seems as if the youngster has been pushed a little too fast against the wrong kind of opponent for him.

Alexander, only 21, is a former 2004 United States Amateur Light Welterweight champion, and is ranked number #1 in both the WBA and WBC, #13 in the IBF and #14 in the WBO. Despite his high rankings, Alexander has faced little in the way of high caliber opposition, with perhaps his best opponent to date being DeMarcus Corley, who Alexander beat by a 12-round unanimous decision in January.

However, Alexander looked less than impressive in that fight, repeatedly throwing low blows which eventually earned him a point deduction in the 12th. Aside from that, Alexander showed zero power and an annoying habit of grunting loudly every time he’d throw a punch, reminding me of lightweight Anthony Peterson who also makes a loud shrieking sound whenever he throws a punch.

The lack of power for Alexander, though, was worrisome, because he was forced to grind it out against Corley and ended up taking more shots than he would have had to otherwise. At 21, it’s doubtful that Alexander will get any stronger in the future and with his limited height, only 5’7″, he’s going to potentially have big problems should he grow out of the light welterweight division.

Witter, 34, lost his WBC title to Bradley in a 12-round split decision in May 2008. If not for being knocked down in the 6th by a right hand from Bradley, Witter would have won the fight. Indeed, aside from the knockdown, Witter fought remarkably well against the younger 25-year-old Bradley.

Witter seemed to fade later in the fight, losing energy after the 9th round, but he still fought well enough to win at least one of the last three rounds. In Witter’s most recent fight, a 3rd round stoppage over Victor Hugo Castro (29-5, 12 KOs), in June, Witter knocked Castro down twice in the fight with the bout ending in the third after Witter dropped Castro combination to the head that sent Castro down to the canvas where he was counted out.



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