By Matt Stein: IBF/WBC junior welterweight champion Devon Alexander (21-0, 13 KO’s) looked unimpressive in beating Andriy Kotelnik by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night. Alexander looked flustered early on when Kotelnik didn’t disappear like many of the 2nd tier opponents that Alexander had previously been matched against. Alexander’s shots looked weak compared to that of Kotelnik. That’s not a good sign for Alexander, because with this win, he’s going to looking to fight Timothy Bradley next. Alexander is going to need power if he’s to have any chance of beating the 26-year-old Bradley.

Alexander didn’t seem to have a clue what to do against Kotelnik last night. Alexander tried to fight Kotelnik both on the outside and the inside, with neither strategies working for him. Alexander’s trainer was under the impression that Kotelnik couldn’t fight on the inside and asked Alexander to get in close to try and take charge of the fight. However, Kotelnik proved to be an even better inside fighter than Alexander, and was able to catch him repeatedly with big uppercuts and hooks while in close. When on the outside, Kotelnik was able to time Alexander and land his jabs between Alexander’s shots. At the same time, Kotelnik did an excellent job of picking off Alexander’s shots or leaning away to make them miss.

Alexander is going to have to find some power before his fight with Bradley in January. Looking the way did against Kotelnik, Alexander won’t be able to be effective against Bradley with his weak shots. It’s going to take a lot more than that for Alexander to get a decision over Bradley. Alexander had a habit of grunting loudly ever time he would throw a punch, but his shots were weak looking and not as powerful in comparison to Kotelnik’s. Alexander might do himself a favor by not grunting so much, because he seemed to be telegraphing his shots with his grunts. At 23, it’s doubtful that Alexander is going to be any better of a puncher than he is now.

In that case, he’s going to have to work on his conditioning and try to throw more punches. In the 2nd half of Saturday’s fight, Alexander looked tired and seemed to have lost what little power that he originally had on his shots. Alexander needs to come up with some other plans to get by fighters like Amir Khan and Bradley. Right now, Alexander looks too flawed to beat those guys. He’s got to learn some more stuff to get him over the hump to where he can compete with those guys.