By Allan Fox: IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander (25-1, 14 KO’s) expects to look strong on Saturday night in making his second defense of his title against the unbeaten Shawn Porter (22-0-1, 4 KO’s) at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Alexander, 26, has seen some of Porter’s fights and he’s not been overly impressed with what he’s seen of his skills. He feels that Porter is definitely a level below him in the talent department. Those thoughts are echoed by a lot of other boxing fans as well.
Alexander said this via Sky Sports “His [Porter] skills are limited. You can expect me to win and be explosive. I’m going to be smart and get the win. After this fight we can expect bigger and better things. I’ll be a major player at 147.”
#6 IBF Porter probably isn’t the kind of opponent that will open any doors for Alexander to get the big names in the division. An impressive win over Porter will definitely help keep Alexander where he is right now, but it likely do much to nudge guys like Floyd Mayweather Jr. into wanting to fight him. The fight would have done that was the previously proposed Alexander vs. Amir Khan fight. But Khan backed out of the fight leaving Alexander with just the Porter title defense.
It’s not a big enough fight to create the opportunities that Alexander is hoping. If Khan and Mayweather won’t fight him, Alexander will need to face someone like Keith Thurman to show boxing fans that he’s for real. Alexander already easily beat Marcos Maidana last year.
If he can beat another slugger like Thurman, Alexander will be able to set himself apart from the other top fighters at 147. A fight against WBA welterweight champion Adrien Broner would be an ideal fight to impress fans. Also a good fight for Alexander would be against Danny Garcia if he can get Garcia to move up to 147 to fight him.
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