By Sean McDaniel: EBU cruiserweight champion Alexander Alekseev (23-2-1, 20 KO’s) got a gift 12 round majority draw against 41-year-old former WBA World cruiserweight champion Firat Arslan (32-5-2, 21 KO’s) on Friday night at the EWS Arena in Goeppingen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. The final judges’ scores were 114-114, 114-114 and 116-113 for the 31-year-old Alekseev. I had the fight scored 116-112 for Arslan.

Alekseev, 6’2″, fought a really stupid fight and didn’t make any adjustments until the 11th round when he appeared to be well behind in the fight. Instead of using his reach and height by fighting on the outside, Alekseev crowded the shorter 5’11” Arslan and basically fought his kind of fight by brawling – or attempting to – on the inside. Alekseev was completely out of his element and was dominated in rounds 2nd through the 10th. Alekseev seemed to wake up in the 11th and 12th round, finally using his reach by fighting the shorter Arslan on the outside and finishing strong. However, he gave away eight rounds where he stood in front of Arslan and ate shot after shot. It was an easy fight for Arslan because he doesn’t have much reach or much in the way of mobility, and he needs guys that stand in right in front of him to do well.

This is exactly what Alekseev did and it’s pretty disappointing that he didn’t make any adjustments until late in the fight. The scores were pretty ridiculous because Arslan dominated the fight, and even in the rounds where Alekseev appeared to win them, Arslan still made them very close.