Alexander-Bailey, Matthysse-Olusegun on September 8th in Las Vegas, Nevada

By Dan Ambrose: The clash between IBF welterweight champion Randall Bailey (43-6, 37 KO’s) and Devon Alexander (23-1, 13 KO’s) has finally gotten a venue with the fight taking place on September 8th at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to RingTV.com.

On the undercard will be light welterweight contenders Lucas Matthysse (31-2, 29 KO’s) fighting unbeaten Ajose Olusegun for the interim WBC light welterweight crown.

The card will be televised by Showtime, and hopefully the main event turns out to be an exciting one. I have no doubts that Bailey will be exciting, but I do feel slightly skeptical about Alexander after watching many of his clinch-filled previous fights in the past. I’m really hoping that Alexander can keep his clinching down to around three to five clinches per rounds instead over 10 like in his last fight agaisnt Marcos Maidana last February.

I couldn’t even watch the fight because Alexander was only leaving enough time to land one shot before grabbing Maidana each time. The referee would break up the clinch and Alexander, the quicker fighter, would land another shot and follow it up again with yet another clinch.

It was an interesting as watching paint dry, and I thought Alexander should have been disqualified by the 5th round in that horrible to watch fight. Showtime may be making a mistake of agreeing to televise this fight in particular. The Matthysse-Olusegun bout promises to be a great one, and is worthy of being televised by Showtime. But the Alexander vs. Bailey has clinch-fest written all over it.

Bailey is coming off of a nice 11th round TKO win over Top Rank fighter Mike Jones last June in a big upset win. Bailey, who may be the biggest puncher in the welterweight division, landed a huge right uppercut in the 11th that put Jones down and out on the canvas.

Matthysse, 29, is looking to win his fourth consecutive victory after having lost two questionable decisions to Zab Judah and Alexander in their home arenas. In his last fight, Matthysse dominated Humberto Soto, beating him by a 5th round stoppage last June.