By Dan Ambrose: After beating Randall Bailey, Marcos Maidana, and Lucas Matthysse in the last two years, I have no problems whatsoever in IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander (24-1, 13 KO’s) facing Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 4th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The International Boxing Federation can strip Alexander of his IBF title for taking the fight with Mayweather, but that’s not going to stop the fight from taking place if Mayweather wants it.
Alexander will take it as long as he’s offered reasonable money. Alexander isn’t going to give up his IBF title for chump change to fight Mayweather because he can make decent money just defending his title against the contenders.
Some boxing fans may feel like Alexander isn’t worthy of the fight with Mayweather due to him lacking a big fan base and not having an entertaining style, but I think Alexander has done more than Robert Guerrero, who fans seem to be ok with Mayweather fighting on May 4th. Guerrero’s two big wins at welterweight were against a rusty Andre Berto and an unproven Selcuk Aydin.
We just saw Jesus Soto-Karass beat Aydin easier than Guerrero did, which kind of takes away the shine of Guerrero’s victory over him. Guerrero did beat Berto, but that was with Berto trying a new defensive style and fighting off the ropes for the full 12 rounds. Berto looks like he’s going downhill as a fighter at 29, and if he keeps putting in performances like he did against Guerrero, then I can see him as a journeyman soon.
There’s still a possibility that Mayweather is just using Alexander’s name to get a better financial deal with Guerrero, but I hope now for Alexander’s sake because I’m sure he’s eager to take the fight with Mayweather if he’s serious about it. It would be disappointing if that’s what Mayweather is doing.
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