Brook vs Alexander- Can Kell get the better of Alexander the Great?

By Boxing News - 01/25/2013 - Comments

brook25By Thomas Cowan: Ahead of Devon Alexander’s showdown with his mandatory challenger to the IBF welterweight world title, Kell Brook, Alexander is seemingly already looking past the Brit towards his next title fight. Alexander’s trainer, Kevin Cunningham, has been talking up a potential bout with veteran Shane Mosley. However, is it dangerous to dismiss the Brook fight as a definite win for the American?

Now, it’s pretty obvious that Brook hasn’t exactly had the toughest route to this title shot. Brook really struggled last summer when he came up against Carson Jones, who is a 2nd tier fighter at best with 9 losses on his record, just about scraping his way to a majority decision win. Many critics wrote off Brook’s title chances after this poor display but it is worth pointing out that Brook looked like the superior fighter until he tired in the later rounds and if he worked on his stamina the rematch would probably be pretty one-sided. Brook then earned his still shot by destroying slow, weak Argentinian veteran so it’s clear fighting Alexander is going to be a huge step up in class.

Despite this, Brook did knock down Matthew Hatton in their domestic fight last year. I’m not suggesting Hatton is anywhere near world class but he is extremely tough and it takes some power to knock him down, highly rated Mexican Saul Alvarez didn’t manage it. Alexander has shown in the past that he’s vulnerable to hard punchers. He was badly beaten by Tim Bradley in their 2011Light Welterweight WBC/WBO unification bout which he lost and he would have lost his next fight against Lucas Matthyse had the Argentinian not been robbed by a blatant hometown decision. Some fans also feel he lost to Ukranian Andreas Kotelnik but I think he Alexander just did enough to win that fight.

However, worringly for Brook, the American looked a lot stronger after making the move up to 147lbs in 2012. Alexander dominated talented Argentinian Marcos Maidana and powerful Randall Bailey, never really looking like he was going to be hurt by either fighters considerable power. I can see Brook fighting fairly well in this fight because he does have potential but his lack of experience with world class fighters will show and I’m predicting Alexander winning by either a late KO or a comfortable decision.



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