By John F. McKenna: The “fight” last Saturday night between Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander was a classic example of “Hype Gone Bad”. Obviously HBO, the promoters and the fighters all wanted to make money off of this fiasco of a fight.

The hype leading up to the fight had many boxing fans, this writer included, convinced that we were about to witness a pretty good boxing match. To say that boxing fans were disappointed again in an overly hyped fight would be an understatement. HBO could have used a winner after the news broke recently that Bob Arum was taking his cash cow, Manny Pacquiao to what he perceives to be greener pastures at Showtime.

What we all got was a disgusting performance by both Bradley and Alexander. Bradley with his “accidental” on purpose habitual head butting did not put on the stellar performance that everyone expected. Alexander, who talked a good fight ahead of time, as seems to be the custom now with so many fighters, shied away from any meaningful exchanges.

The fight was ugly to watch. I remember looking at my channel guide between rounds in an effort to see what else was on, but being the boxing fan I am, I continued to watch the fight hoping, always hoping that it would get better. It never got better. The fact that only 6,247 fans showed up at the venue for the fight speaks volumes. Neither fighter has a strong fan base.

HBO and both fighters will take it on the chin for what transpired last Saturday night. Devon Alexander in particular will have a difficult time living down what is perceived by the boxing public as a “quit job”. His performance after Bradley’s last head butt was baffling to say the least. After the ring video was played back it became clear that Alexander received a head butt on the left side of his face. Devon immediately after the butt said in very dramatic fashion, that he had a burning sensation in his right eye.

The referee gave him some time to get things together, but Alexander shrieked in pain and indicated that he could not continue. The fight then went to the score cards because the head butts were ruled to be accidental. I scored the fight six rounds to three for Bradley at the time of the stoppage, although several of the rounds Bradley won were competitive.

The officials also ruled in favor of Bradley. In the post fight interview it was difficult to ascertain from Alexander what had happened. He alluded to the referee stopping the fight. The referee did not stop the fight. Alexander refused to continue. In other words, he quit. Not a good conclusion for a fighter who wants to have a Mega Bucks fight in the near future. It will be very difficult to sell any future fight involving Devon Alexander to fight fans.