By Robert Dean: Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander are both great for the sport of boxing. They don’t shy away from tough competition and real matchups that the fans are interested to follow and watch. Too often boxing has contests where one overwhelming favorite wants an easy win against an underdog looking for a payday.

Timothy Bradley is an undefeated 26-0 against formidable competition. He handed Luis Carlos Abregu and Lamont Peterson their first defeats with lopsided decision wins in front of sizeable crowds. Bradley’s fame is building with each win, and rightly so. Devon Alexander is a perfect 21-0, also against real competition.

His last 3 wins were against Andriy Kotelnik, Juan Urango, and Junior Witter, all big-name, recognized contenders. Urango got viciously KO’d in the 8th round by Alexander and hasn’t fought since. It’s true that Alexander’s decision win over Kotelnik was a hometown gift decision, but that wasn’t his fault, it’s the responsibility of the judges.

Alexander stood in and traded punches with Kotelnik, didn’t back down, and had a great work rate throughout the fight. Even though his punching wasn’t very effective and his head was getting snapped back repeatedly by Kotelnik’s targeted, effective shots, he stayed with his strategy and kept fighting and that’s what fans want to see.

Compubox showed that both fighters landed about the same number of punches with Alexander having the higher work rate. If there’s been any criticism of Bradley and Alexander it’s that they fight too often at home. But now both of these fighters have shown they’re not afraid to get it on at a neutral site in Detroit.

It’s going to be a fantastic fight and both these fighters are already winners just for having the guts to step into the ring with each other. I will have the lights off and my popcorn ready.